Harry Potter and the Mystery Beyond the Veil
by Writer in the Shadows
Summary: It's Harry's Sixth year at Hogwarts. Voldemort's attacks have become more frequent. What will Harry be able to do to stop Voldemort from killing the rest of his friends and family? I HAVE STOPPED WRITING THIS.
1. Chapter One The Escape From Privet Drive

Harry Potter awoke early one morning when he heard the sound of owls pecking at his window. He went over to the window and let the three birds in. One of them he recognized one of them as his own owl, Hedwig, and one of the others as his friend Ron's owl, Pigwidgeon. They flew over to his bed and landed on it. Harry walked over to the bed and untied the letters. One he knew was from Hogwarts because it had the Hogwarts symbol on the back. After taking the letters, the owls flew over to Hedwig's cage and started drinking some of the water. Hedwig got mad and started squawking at them. Harry just went about reading the letters. The first he opened was from Lupin, who had been sending him at least one letter per week, asking how the muggles were treating him and asking him if he had had any weird dreams.  
  
Dear Harry,  
  
Just checking up on you. If I don't hear from you soon, we're coming right away. But we'll be coming anyway in five days time to pick you up and take you back to headquarters. Can't say much in this letter. Write back soon!  
  
--Lupin  
  
Harry grabbed a piece of parchment and started writing his letter back to Lupin.  
  
Lupin,  
  
I'm fine. The muggles are all right. You don't need to get me early. Can't wait to get away though.  
  
--Harry  
  
Harry then took the next letter he saw on his bed, which he knew must've been from his friend Ron.  
  
Harry,  
  
Headquarters has been acting really crazy lately. Everybody has been acting very strange. Hermione is going crazy over the fact that she hasn't gotten her OWL results yet. Did you hear they're electing a new Minister? Dad's running. The Order is trying to get him to win, since he would be able to give insight as to what's going on in the ministry. That b Umbridge is running. I hated her. Well, I hear you'll be here in a few days. Can't wait to see you, mate. Anyway, don't let the muggles get you down.  
  
--Ron  
  
Harry looked at the letter and then put it back down on the bed, not writing a reply to this one. The last letter was very thick and held lots of parchment. The first inside it just told him that he was expected to be at Platform 9 3/4 on September 1st, just like always. Then he took out the second letter inside the envelope.  
  
Mr. Harry Potter,  
  
You have been chosen as Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. We know you will be an excellent captain and know that you will be able to step up as a leader and bring your team to success.  
  
--Minerva McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House  
  
The last letter in the envelope Harry knew must have his OWL scores. He took it out and closed his eyes. He did not want to know how bad he had done.  
  
Defence Against the Dark ArtsO  
  
TransfigurationO  
  
CharmsO  
  
PotionsE  
  
Care of Magical CreaturesO  
  
History of MagicA  
  
HerbologyA  
  
AstronomyCannot be determined, for there happened to be a huge disturbance during the examination. We are sure the candidate would receive an O however.  
  
DivinationT  
  
Subject is accepted into six NEWT classes: Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Care of Magical Creatures, and Astronomy.  
  
"What? How did I get an E in Potions? Well, it does mean Exceeds Expectations, and Snape does have pretty poor expectations of me. So I guess it wasn't that hard for me to do better than what he expected of me," Harry said, talking to himself. He tied his letter to Lupin onto Hedwig and Hedwig left for headquarters along with Pigwidgeon. The barn owl left too, but was destined for Hogwarts. Harry lay down on his bed for a few minutes and then felt energy surge through his scar and fell to the floor. His scar burned as it had when he was at the Ministry last year. He heard Voldemort's laugh. It was right behind him?  
  
He turned around to see about four death eaters who took him and dragged him downstairs. What he saw was unexplainable. Voldemort was standing there in the middle of the living room, with his wand pointed straight at him. All the noise must've woken up the Dursleys, for he saw them start to come downstairs. Voldemort ordered his death eaters to grab them, and they did so.  
  
"Crucio!" Voldemort screamed, pointing his wand at Harry. Harry could feel the pain. It was causing him to have so much pain, but he would not give in. He would not scream because he knew that would only give Voldemort pleasure. He let go of the curse. "So, Potter can stand the pain? Well let's see if these muggles can stand it as long as you could!" Voldemort cried out, very angry. He pointed his wand at Uncle Vernon and shouted, "Crucio!" Uncle Vernon fell down at once, and started to scream. "You worthless, good for nothing muggle! Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort screamed and he shot a green jolt of lighting at Vernon. His uncle became silent and Harry knew he was dead.  
  
"I think it's time to play now, don't you Potter?" Voldemort asked him. Harry just lay there, not doing anything. "You will answer when spoken to!" Voldemort said. He moved his wand and Harry could feel a force trying to make him nod his head yes. But Harry was too strong. "Fine. I'll play by myself. Imperio!" Voldemort said, pointing his wand at Aunt Petunia. Aunt Petunia was now obeying Voldemort's every command. She picked up a knife that happened to be lying there. "Potter, watch. This is my favorite part!" Voldemort said, laughing his normal evil laugh. Aunt Petunia took the knife and started to stab her son, Dudley with it. Harry could not watch anymore. He closed his eyes and turned away. He could hear Dudley's cries.  
  
"Mom! What are you doing?" Dudley was screaming. At last, the screams died out. But then he could hear Petunia screaming. She had noticed what she had done and killed herself. He was expecting to hear Voldemort laughing, but instead he heard five cracks. He opened his eyes to see no more death eaters and no more Voldemort. Instead, he was surrounded by members of the Order of the Phoenix. Dumbledore was there along with Tonks, Moody, Lupin, Kingsley, and Mr. Weasley. Mrs. Figg was also there.  
  
"I was so worried Harry!" Mrs. Figg cried out as she grabbed him and put him on the sofa.  
  
"We shall be going back to headquarters now. Do you feel you have the ability to fly there?" Dumbledore asked.  
  
"Yes, I think I can make it," Harry told them.  
  
"Alright, go grab your stuff. We'll be waiting down here for you. Tonks will go help you," Dumbledore told him. He and Tonks walked up the stairs to his room and started to pack away his things. Tonks used a levitating charm that moved everything into his trunk. He grabbed the Firebolt he got back from Professor McGonagall the last day of school and went down the steps. Tonks took his trunk. Once downstairs, Moody used a charm to shrink the trunk so that Harry could easily fit it into his pocket. Moody then administered a charm on everyone that made them invisible to all muggles. They went outside and took off on their broomsticks.  
  
It was the same method as used last year when he went to Grimmauld Place. They would rotate every once in a while to keep Harry safe from anyone else. They finally reached Number 12 Grimmauld Place, the one place Harry could find his friends, but he was also sad about going back there. It was the place where his godfather, Sirius Black, had lived. They went inside the house and Mrs. Weasley immediately took him into a giant hug. He went and ate some breakfast in the kitchen and then was instructed to go get some rest in the bedroom. He gladly did so, feeling very weak from being under the Cruciatus curse.  
  
The days had gone by fast. Hermione had been very worried about him and kept asking about his scar. He kept telling her it was fine. They mostly just hung around and talked about their OWL scores and the NEWTs they would be taking. Ron got into four, Herbology, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, and Care of Magical Creatures. Hermione had gotten into eight. Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, Potions, Astronomy, History of Magic, and Herbology.  
  
"How can you take that many classes?" Harry asked. Hermione ignored him, not wanting to take any abuse because of all her knowledge. 


	2. Chapter Two Trouble in Diagon Alley

He had awoken early one particular day for three reasons. One, the sun was so bright; it had made the whole room glow. Two, Buckbeak, who had insisted on staying in the same room as Harry, was making a loud grunting sound, which startled Harry. And three, Mrs. Weasley was trying to wake him up early, since they were going to Diagon Alley that day to go get the new school things. Harry had been inside all summer, not allowed to go outside. Dumbledore thought it was a good idea for him to be able to go out this once, since it would be in an entire village packed with wizards who would be looking after him, their only hope at defeating Voldemort. So Harry got out of bed and got some of his clothes ready for a shower as quickly as he could. He did not want to wait for anyone else to be done with theirs in order to take his. He wanted to be the first one in and the first one out. He walked out the door and saw that Hermione was also walking out of her door, going towards the bathroom with her things to take a shower. He broke into a run, not wanting to have to wait for Hermione to be done with hers.  
  
He took a shower and hurriedly got dressed and ready for his day at Diagon Alley. He went downstairs into the kitchen, where Mrs. Weasley was still currently fixing breakfast. Lupin was also sitting there. Harry had just realized that Lupin was his last connection to his father. Sirius had died, Peter was working for Lord Voldemort, and both of his parents were dead. He sat there with this thought in his head. As well as thinking about breakfast.  
  
Lupin, seeing the glum expression on Harry's face, said to him in a fatherly tone, "It's okay Harry. I miss him too."  
  
"Who? Breakfast?" Harry asked, puzzled.  
  
"No, Sirius, I know you've been thinking about him a lot lately. It's okay, I have been too," Lupin said, trying to comfort Harry.   
  
"I know. But I just can't stop thinking about it. If I would have just listened to Dumbledore and continued with my Occlumency, then I wouldn't have gone to the Department of Mysteries, and Sirius wouldn't have died," Harry said, very sadly.  
  
"It's not your fault! Don't ever talk like that! Sirius did that because he cared for you. He would've done anything to save you. A person with as much bravery as he had, should not have to be held up locked in a house where he had so many bad memories growing up," Lupin said to Harry.  
  
"Breakfast is ready!" Mrs. Weasley called, trying to cheer the both of them up. They both jumped and started to eat their breakfasts. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny came down after a little while and ate with them also. Fred and George had both already left for work in Diagon Alley at their new joke shop.  
  
After breakfast, Tonks arrived and explained to them that she would also be escorting them to Diagon Alley as well as Mrs. Weasley and Lupin. They all lined up by the fireplace to travel to Diagon Alley. Harry had gotten quite used to using floo powder and had learned from his previous mistakes that you had to speak clearly. Lupin went through first followed by Ron, Ginny, then Tonks, Hermione, and then Harry.  
  
"Diagon Alley!" he shouted as he stepped into the whirl of green flames. He was immediately spinning. He zoomed past many fireplaces until he reached the on he wanted. He landed with a thud in a thick pile of ashes in the fireplace of the Leaky Cauldron. He walked over to where the rest of the group was waiting for him. Hermione brushed off all of the ashes that were covering his robes. A moment later, Mrs. Weasley had arrived, and they headed off towards Gringotts to take out some money for Harry.  
  
They entered the big white building, which was Gringotts, and Lupin pulled out a two keys from his pocket. He gave the keys to a goblin who led them to an empty cart, to escort them down to the underground vaults. The first vault they came to was Harry's. Harry stepped out and allowed the goblin to unlock his vault for him. Harry quickly filled a bag with money from the vault. He got back inside the cart and allowed the goblin to take them to the other vault, which Harry had no clue what was inside. Harry watched as Lupin and Tonks both went inside the second vault and retrieved a package. It was wrapped in a silver material, and was probably very important, seeing the way that the two of them handled it. Lupin and Tonks both got back inside the cart and the goblin drove them away. They reached the outside and the goblin gave the keys back to Lupin before leaving to go help another group of wizards. They left Gringotts and headed out to get some new schoolbooks for the kids.   
  
He had received his book list along with his OWL results earlier in the summer and was admitted into six NEWT classes. Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Care of Magical Creatures, Transfiguration, Charms, and Astronomy. They entered Flourish and Blotts and gave their book lists to a woman who worked there.  
  
"Starting your NEWT classes this year I suppose?" she said to him.  
  
"Yep," he answered.  
  
"This is very impressive. Six NEWTs. You must've had outstanding OWL results," she said as she gathered the last book and took them up to the counter for him to pay. "That would be twelve galleons and seventeen sickles," she told him. Gladly, he took the money out of his moneybag and gave her the money needed. He met up with the rest of the bunch and headed out of the store to go to Madame Malkin's Robes For All Occasions.  
  
He entered the store and saw the one person he did not want to run into. Cho Chang. She was getting measured. Luckily, she hadn't seen him yet. He still had a chance to get away. He turned around and started to walk back out the door.  
  
"Harry! Over here!" he heard Cho say.  
  
"Oh, hey Cho! I didn't see you there!" Harry lied. He was not glad to see her.  
  
"Sorry about last year. I cried when I realized what I had done," she said to him. He did not want to hear this. He did not want her to cry anymore. He had no clue that someone could cry that much. Harry thought that it was impossible to cry more than she had in her lifetime. Madame Malkin escorted him to a chair for him to stand upon while she bewitched a tape measure to measure him. After being measured up, she ran off and gathered the robes. He paid for them and hurried out the door, not wanting to talk to Cho any longer.  
  
Then he saw Fred and George's new joke shop, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. They all entered the store, which was packed with people, and filled with many new objects that Fred and George had created over the summer.  
  
"Hey Harry!" Fred yelled from behind the register. Harry pushed his way through the crowd and to the register. "You have a discount. 40% off everything in the store! So go ahead and shop away!" Fred told him. Harry did just this. He found many things that amused him. He bought some of the Skiving Snackboxes, and some lollypops that changed the color of your hair to a puke green. He paid for them and left the store. After a few steps, George came running after him.  
  
"Harry, here, take this. Five hundred galleons. We owe you," he said.  
  
"I can't take that! It must be half of what you've made!" Harry exclaimed.  
  
"Are you kidding?! We've made plenty! This is nothing! It's the least we can do," George told him.  
  
"Well, thanks then!" Harry said, taking the money, but still feeling a little guilty.  
  
"See you later Harry!" George said as he ran off towards the store.  
  
Harry then passed Quality Quidditch Supplies. There was a new broom in the window. The Lighting Star.  
  
"I want it!" Harry said as he ran into the store, Ron at his tail. "How much is it?" Harry asked the man.  
  
"How much is what?" the man asked him.  
  
"The Lighting Star! Of course!" exclaimed Harry.  
  
"Six-hundred galleons," the man told him.  
  
"I'll take it!" Harry said. He took out six hundred galleons and paid the man. The man then went and grabbed the Lighting Star from the window display and wrapped it up.  
  
"Here you are," the man said, "Last one we had!" Harry gladly took the broom and walked outside.  
  
"Wow! The Lightning Star!" exclaimed Tonks.  
  
"That's really cool!" Ginny said.  
  
"Okay, you kids wait right here. We have to go do something," Mrs. Weasley told them. She, Tonks, and Lupin all walked off, leaving the kids there.  
  
He heard seven cracks and before he knew it, there were seven death eaters surrounding him.  
  
"Hello Potter!" one of them said. It was a woman's voice. He knew it, but wasn't quite sure who it was.  
  
"I've been waiting for this all my life!" another of them said. He knew this one. It was Lucius Malfoy.  
  
"What do you want?" Harry asked them, remaining calm.  
  
"What do you think?" one of them asked.  
  
"I don't know. Maybe you came to get some shopping done," Harry said, laughing on the outside, but not laughing at all on the inside. He was trying to keep himself cool and not show any weakness.  
  
"Haha. You think you're funny Potter? Don't you?" one of the other men spoke up.  
  
"Oh my god! Snape really has gone back!" he thought, realizing who that voice was. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lupin come around the corner, but then Lupin went back. "Why wasn't he trying to save me?" Harry thought. They started to close around Harry and his friends.  
  
"So, is little baby Potter scared?" the first woman said. He knew it now. It was Bellatrix Lestrange. "Do you miss Sirius?" she said in a mock-like tone, "You shouldn't. He wasn't worth anything!"  
  
"Don't ever say anything about my godfather like that!" Harry said defensively. Then he heard a bunch of people coming from all over. He knew he was saved.  
  
He saw Moody, Dumbledore, Lupin, Kingsley, Tonks, Mr. Weasley, and a couple others that he recognized from the Order. Professor McGonagall was also there. They took out two death eaters, but the rest got away. They wrapped the two death eaters in thick metals binds that shot out of their wands and picked them up. Professor McGonagall took the hood off of one of them. It was Wormtail. Harry spat on him as he walked by. He was disgusted by the sight of Wormtail and had been since his third year when he first found out about him. The mask of the other death eater was taken off by Tonks, to reveal Bellatrix Lestrange, the other death eater whom he hated the most. Dumbledore walked over to where Harry was standing and started to speak.  
  
"Harry, that was brave of you to stand up for your friends," Dumbledore said, with a twinkle in his eye, "And I've been meaning to talk to you. I'll tell you my plans when we get back to Headquarters."  
  
"All right, Professor," Harry said, still in shock.  
  
"Portus," Dumbledore said, pointing his wand at an old boot, "All of you, take this portkey back to Grimmauld Place. 1...2...3." They were lifted off the ground in a whirl and when they regained thought, they were back at the Order headquarters. Mrs. Weasley was already there.   
  
She grabbed they kids and pulled them all into a giant hug.  
  
"I'm so glad you're all okay," she said. "Here, have some food," she told them, pointing towards the kitchen where there was a great pile of sandwiches in the middle of the table. They all sat around the table and ate. Several Order members showed up to make sure things were going well including Lupin, Moody, Kinglsey, Tonks, and Snape, who apologized for back at Diagon Alley. Dumbledore arrived and asked everyone if they could please leave the kitchen except for Harry. Once everyone had gone, he spoke up.  
  
"Harry, I just wish for you to know that you will be continuing Occlumency this year. But I will be teaching you. Every Tuesday night. On weekends, you will be taking classes with Lupin and Minerva on becoming an animagus. I have persuaded Minerva to let you be unregistered, against her will. But she has finally agreed," Dumbledore told him.  
  
"Wow! I'm going to become an animagi?" Harry said, amazed.  
  
"That is our hope, yes," Dumbledore told him, "I understand this is a lot. And that you already have a lot on your hands, but you must understand that this is all for your benefit. It will greatly help you. Now go get some sleep. Rest up." Harry did just this. He put all of his new school stuff in his room and leant his new Lightning Star against the wall. He laid down on his bed and drifted off to sleep.  
  
He awoke the next morning when Ron started shouting in his face, "Get up Harry! Breakfast is ready!"  
  
"I'm going," Harry said as he tried to lift himself out of bed. Ron ran out of the room and down the steps. He could hear Ron fall down the last step as he ran towards the kitchen. "Man, that kid must love food," Harry muttered as he finally got out of his bed. He went downstairs and into the kitchen where Ron was sitting, stuffing his face with food as usual. They ate some blueberry muffins that Mrs. Weasley had made for them and then went back upstairs. Hermione and Ron played chess. Ron was beating her badly like usual. Harry was sitting on Ron's bed polishing his new broomstick. He couldn't wait to fly it.  
  
"You can fly it later if you want," Ron told him, "Dumbledore put up a charm so people couldn't look into the yard either. So it's perfectly safe."  
  
"Awesome!" Harry exclaimed, wanting to fly the broom so badly. Later that day, he did get a chance to fly it. He was impressed by the broom. It went faster than he imagined. "Wow!" he thought as he flew it around the house once more. It was like he wasn't on a broom. It felt like he was flying himself, with no help from a broom. He just couldn't wait to use the broom out on the pitch at school this upcoming year. 


	3. Chapter Three The Order Meeting

A few days later, Dumbledore came to check up on Harry.  
  
"How are things going Harry?" Dumbledore asked him.  
  
"Well, it's really boring being kept inside this house all the time. I know how Sirius felt now," Harry said, saddened at the thought of Sirius.  
  
"Well, things are about to change about it being boring here. The Order members have decided that we think you are ready to be able to sit in on our meetings," Dumbledore told him.  
  
"Wow! You really mean it?" Harry asked with a big grin on his face.  
  
"Yep. We decided last night," Dumbledore told him.  
  
"Can Ron and Hermione come too?" Harry asked.  
  
"It's up to you. Just remember what kinds of things we will be talking about. Do you really want your two best friends to hear all about it?" Dumbledore said thoughtfully.  
  
"Well, I guess you're right. They have enough on their minds. They don't need to know every bad thing that is going on with Voldemort," Harry said.  
  
"Alright, the first meeting that you are entitled to go to is tomorrow night," Dumbledore told him.  
  
"Okay professor," Harry said in return.  
  
He went back to his room and started to read some of his books he had gotten for the upcoming school year. He had started to read when Ron walked in.  
  
"Harry, can I talk to you for a minute?" Ron asked him.  
  
"Sure. What about?" Harry returned.  
  
"Well, it's just that there's this girl I really like, okay. And we're already really good friends. And I don't know how to approach her and let her know," Ron said, with a weird expression on his face.  
  
"Hermione?" Harry asked.  
  
"No!" Ron said defensively as soon as Harry said her name.  
  
"It's okay Ron. You can tell me. I'm your best friend," Harry told him.  
  
"Alright, yes it's Hermione. But I don't know what to do," Ron told him.  
  
"Well, just take it easy Ron," Harry told him, encouragingly, "Ask her if she wants to go to Hogsmeade with you when the time arises for the first Hogsmeade visit."  
  
"Alright, thanks a lot Harry. I knew I could count on you," Ron said, with a smile growing on his face. He walked out of the room, and where he went next, Harry did not know. The only thing Harry knew was that he could not help but keep thinking about what Ron had just told him.  
  
He could not wait until the Order meeting the following night, which was driving him crazy. He was finally going to be able to know what is going on. He had wanted to know what Voldemort's plans were, and now he had the chance of getting his questions answered. He could not stop thinking about the meeting so much, that he continued to pace back and forth in his room until he heard Mrs. Weasley's voice.  
  
"Harry! Come on down here! Dinner's ready!" he could hear her calling to him. Had it really been that long that he was pacing? He walked down the steps and was immediately reminded of when Ron had fallen down the same steps earlier in the week. He hoped he didn't fall down as well. He walked into the kitchen and took his regular seat at the table. He looked around to see if there were any guests eating with them that night. It turned out that Lupin was there, as usual, he had eaten there almost every night, as well as Tonks. Harry thought he saw something happening between Lupin and Tonks that was more than just friendly, but then decided that he was just thinking crazy thoughts. Lupin and Tonks were just friends, nothing more.  
  
He began to slowly devour his food, having not eaten since breakfast that morning. He must've been spacing out when Mrs. Weasley called him for lunch. He had been doing that a lot lately. He would just space out and not realize anything that was happening in the world around him. He hurriedly ate his dinner, wanting to be able to take a look at his broom.  
  
"Harry, excited about your birthday tomorrow?" Lupin asked him.  
  
"Oh my god! Tomorrow's my birthday!" Harry thought to himself. He had completely lost track of the days. He just laughed at how stupid he was. "Of course! I can't wait for it to come!" he told Lupin, with a big grin on his face. Harry finished his dinner and ran up to his room. Ron ran after him, wanting to take a look at the Lightning Star also. They entered his room and Buckbeak made a growling noise at Ron. Ron bowed to Buckbeak, and Buckbeak returned the bow, meaning that Buckbeak trusted Ron. Harry went over to Buckbeak and started to stroke him right by his wing.  
  
"Hey Bucky," Harry said to the big creature before grabbing his new broomstick. He brought it over to his bed and sat down. He took out his broom polish and took the compass off his old Firebolt.  
  
"Did you hear that Fred and George are going to buy me a new broomstick since I'm on the Quidditch team?" Ron asked.  
  
"Cool!" Harry said, happy for his friend.  
  
"Of course, it's nothing like a Lightning Star. They're getting me the Nimbus 2001. It's still pretty fast. A lot faster and easier to handle than the broomstick I have now," Ron told him.  
  
"Yeah, it's definitely much easier!" Harry exclaimed. He began to apply the broom polish to his broomstick, trying to make it look as shiny as he could. Then he attached the compass to the end of the broom.  
  
"Mind if I test it out one day?" Ron asked him, staring at the broomstick as if it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.  
  
"Sure," Harry said, also staring at his new broom.  
  
That night, Harry got a good rest. It was one of the only times he did not dream of Sirius' death. It was probably because he was thinking nothing but happy thoughts. Tomorrow was his birthday and it was the first time he would be allowed to take part in an Order meeting. Instead, he dreamt about going back to Hogwarts. Hogwarts was his real home. It was the one place where he fit in with everyone around him, except the Slytherins. He hated the Slytherins. Ravenclaws were annoying sometimes and Hufflepuffs were a little too arrogant at times, but for the most part, Harry got along with the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. He awoke the next morning to find a big stack of presents at the foot of his bed. When Ron, Hermione, and Ginny heard him wake up, they came running into his room and jumped onto his bed, not wanting to miss watching him open his mountain of presents.  
  
The first present was from Hagrid. Hagrid had given him the normal present of rock cakes, which Harry knew by now not to eat. So he fed them to Hedwig. He noticed something else that appeared to be from Hagrid. It was a black velvet book. He opened the book to see pictures of his parents and Sirius. He had already received one photo album from Hagrid, but it seemed as though Hagrid had found even more pictures. Harry put the book down, and grabbed a new present from his stack at the foot of his bed.  
  
This present was from Hermione. He unwrapped the present and saw a new homework planner, some parchment, and some new quills.  
  
"Thanks Hermione!" Harry said looking at his school supplies.  
  
"Your welcome!" Hermione replied, smiling. He could always count on Hermione to make him think about the bad part of school, all of the homework. Then he opened a present from Ron and Ginny. They had given him a bunch of candy. He had received Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, and something he knew better than to eat. It was a Canary Cream. Harry had seen them last year when Fred and George had invented them at the school. Harry knew he didn't want to eat them.  
  
Then he grabbed another present, which happened to be from Dumbledore. He unwrapped the silver paper to reveal a pensieve.  
  
"Wow! I could really use this when I am doing Occlumency!" Harry exclaimed. This present would prove to be very helpful in the future. He saw a note stuck to the bottom of the pensieve and took the note off.  
  
_Dear Harry,  
This pensieve once belonged to your father. It will come in handy with your occlumency lessons and I'm sure you will find great use in it. If you look closely, there is still one memory inside of it, from you father. For some reason, it doesn't seem like he used this pensieve very much.  
--Albus Dumbledore_  
  
He peered inside the pensieve and saw what Dumbledore had been talking about. There was only one memory inside it. He decided he would look at the memory some other time. He reached for his next present, which was from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. They had given him some homemade pies, which Harry loved. Harry thought that Mrs. Weasley was perhaps one of the greatest cooks. He especially loved the pies she always sent him for his birthday. Then he grabbed his last present, which was from Fred and George. They had given him a bunch of their new jokes that they created. He would definitely be having lots of fun this year at Hogwarts.  
  
He went downstairs and ate breakfast with the rest of the group, which Mrs. Weasley had graciously prepared for them. They ate up and then decided to go outside in the yard and have fun with Harry's new broomstick. Harry got on it first, and flew around for a little while, to the amusement of the others. He would pull into a dive every once in a while, and then pull out of it right when he was about to hit the ground.  
  
"Oooooo.....ahhh...." he could hear them when he pulled out of the dive successfully for the fourth time. He landed smoothly and then let Ron have a try, since Ron had been begging him to give him a turn on the broom. Ron was flying around, and looked like he was having a lot of fun. He was going to try doing a dive, but decided at the last minute not too, fearing that he would crash and hurt the broomstick. Lastly, Ginny wanted a chance. Ginny started flying, and Harry saw that she was going very fast.  
  
When she landed, Harry told her, "You should definitely try out for Chaser this year. You looked really good."  
  
"Thanks Harry," she said before walking back into the house.  
  
"Are you serious Harry? You want my sister on the team?" Ron asked him disbelievingly.  
  
"Yeah. Did you see her out there? She looked like she would be perfect for the position of Chaser," Harry told him.  
  
They went back inside the house and spent the rest of the day talking all about what they wanted to do this upcoming school year. Harry and the rest could definitely not wait to see Hagrid again, and couldn't wait for Quidditch to start again. Harry hadn't played a game for the longest time. One thing about Hogwarts they didn't miss however, was Draco Malfoy. They talked for a while and played some games before dinner. Snape was there for dinner, and Harry definitely didn't like that. Snape had been acting nicer to him since what happened in Diagon Alley. He had apologized for what had happened and told Harry that he wished he could've warned him, but didn't want to spoil his cover. Harry didn't know why Snape was trying to be nice. Harry knew that Snape wasn't the soft kind of guy.   
  
After dinner, all non-Order members were forced to leave the kitchen, since the Order meeting was going to begin. Many people started to show up including Kingsley, Tonks, Moody, Mundungus, and Albus Dumbledore. Mr. Weasley used a charm to lengthen the table so everyone could fit around. Mrs. Weasley made some sandwiches and a few pies for everyone to eat while discussing. Once everyone had arrived, Dumbledore stood and began to speak.  
  
"I think this is everyone. First I would like to hear reports from a few of you on what you have learned," he told them all. Tonks started first.  
  
"Lupin and I have found that all Dementors have now joined up with Voldemort, except one pack of them which we have recruited to guard Azkaban. We have approximately fifteen Dementors working on our side to keep all death eaters in prison," Tonks told the group.  
  
"Very good. That should keep Lucius Malfoy out of our hair for a while," Harry could hear Mundungus saying to another short balding man sitting next to him.  
  
"Nice work Remus and Nymphadora," Dumbledore said to them, smiling.  
  
"I have looked at the polls recently and it seems as though Dolores Umbridge is beating me, but only by about two-percent. I am still confident that I will be able to pull off a victory for us," Arthur Weasley told the members.  
  
"I hope you do win," Harry muttered under his breath.  
  
"Harry Potter," Dumbledore started and Harry looked straight up at the sound of his name, "Has decided to join us this evening. I will be administering the test on him within the next week if I think he is ready."  
  
"What kind of test is this?" Harry pondered to himself.  
  
"We have found that Voldemort is planning to do something involving the veil," Moody told Dumbledore.  
  
"What kind of plan are we talking about?" Dumbledore asked him.  
  
"Well, we're not sure. But we think he is trying to bring back some of his old followers from the dead," Moody answered.  
  
"Wow! Then there's a chance to bring Sirius back!" Harry thought to himself.  
  
"Okay, that's enough for tonight I think. We shall resume this later on when we gather more information," Dumbledore said to them all and they got up to leave.  
  
That night, Harry started dreaming about Sirius again. He could see Sirius fall through the veil. But then, the dream continued. He could see what was behind the veil. He could see some sort of thing back there. It was like the veil was a portal to heaven. 


	4. Chapter Four Return to Hogwarts

The days leading up to the day he would be leaving for Hogwarts went by really slowly and Harry thought he would never be going back. It seemed to take forever. He could not wait to see who their new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher would be and he could not wait to see some of his other friends from Hogwarts. Harry, Ron, and Hermione usually just hung out and talked. Harry was not allowed to leave the house anymore, ever since the incident in Diagon Alley. He was stuck inside doing homework and reading his new course books. He now knew why Sirius had forced Dumbledore to let him go to the Department of Mysteries. Harry was glad Kreacher was no longer there, but did not like the fact that now they were forced to do all the work. Harry wanted to get a new house elf for the next time he came back to headquarters.  
  
September 1st came, and Harry had to get up really early to get all of his stuff packed. He hurriedly packed, just throwing things into his pack, not organizing them. He wondered how he would ever be able to find his stuff when he got to Hogwarts. He went down the steps to the kitchen where he found Ron, Ginny and Hermione waiting for him, all packed up and ready to go. Harry all of his stuff downstairs now too, including his trunk, his Lightning Star, his Firebolt, and Hedwig. He did not know what he was going to do with his Firebolt, but he knew he would probably find something useful to do with it.  
  
They took all of their things outside and waited for Mr. Weasley to arrive with one of the Ministry vehicles. He eventually did and they loaded their things inside it. They rode in the car for about forty-five minutes before actually arriving at Kings Cross Station. They walked along until they reached Platform 9. They walked a little bit farther until they were just between Platform 9 and Platform 10. They charged at the barrier with all of their stuff already in a cart, and ran straight through the barrier. Normal people would crash into the barrier, but Harry was no ordinary boy. Platform 9 3/4 was only reachable by wizards. As soon as they had all passed through the barrier, they saw the train. Harry knew that he was going home to Hogwarts.  
  
They boarded the train and split ways. Hermione, Ron, and Ginny all went to the prefect carriage to receive their instructions. Ginny had been chosen as a new prefect. Harry however, just walked to the back of the train to his normal compartment, where he found Neville and Luna sitting. Luna had a copy of the Quibbler in hand as usual, and Neville was sitting there with his Mimbulus Mimbletonia, which had grown rather large over the summer.  
  
"Hey Harry!" Neville exclaimed, smiling. Luna sat there reading still, with no clue anyone else had entered. Harry took a seat next to Neville, happy to see him again. Dean and Seamus walked in a few minutes later, and took seats opposite Harry and Neville.  
  
"So Harry, I hear you got chosen as the new Captain for the Gryffindor Quidditch team," Seamus said to him, trying to make conversation.  
  
"Yeah," Harry replied.  
  
"Wow, congratulations Harry!" Neville said to him, "How come you didn't tell me earlier?"  
  
"I guess it just kind of slipped my mind," Harry admitted.  
  
He felt the train start moving, and watched out the window as the scenery started to change. After talking with Dean, Seamus, and Neville for a while, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all showed up.  
  
"Hey Harry," Hermione said to him. "Hey guys," Harry replied.  
  
"Did you hear that Draco is no longer a prefect?" Ginny asked him.  
  
"No, I didn't. But that's really interesting," Harry said in return.  
  
"Dumbledore said he'll have to pick a prefect from another House if he can't find another prefect from Slytherin," Ron told him.  
  
"Wouldn't that be cool if he picked you, Harry?" Ginny said to him.  
  
"Yeah, I guess it would be pretty cool," Harry said, thinking of how much more responsibility he would be given. He didn't even know if he could handle all the responsibility he had now, let alone being a prefect as well. Moments later, the witch with the snack trolley came strolling in, and everyone jumped out of their seats to get candy. Harry got his usual chocolate frogs with Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans. He started eating one of his chocolate frogs and found that the card inside was that of Albus Dumbledore. He was in the picture waving to Harry, and Harry waved back, although he knew Dumbledore could not see him.  
  
"Can I have one? Thanks," Ron said, grabbing a chocolate frog, not waiting for Harry's permission to take one.  
  
"Sure you can have one, Ron," Harry said sarcastically, knowing that it didn't matter.  
  
The compartment door slid open and Draco Malfoy walked in, along with his two cronies, Crabbe and Goyle. There was also a blonde girl along side Draco.  
  
"Who's this Draco? Your girlfriend?" Ron asked mockingly.  
  
"No! She's my sister, you weasel!" Draco replied.  
  
"Oh," Ron said, feeling stupid.  
  
"Talk to your dad lately, Malfoy?" Harry asked him.  
  
"Thanks to you Potter, no I haven't. But you better watch out. I'm gonna hurt you so badly," Draco said, anger building up inside him.  
  
"I have Voldemort trying to kill me. You think I'm scared of you?" Harry said. Everyone, including Draco, gasped when they heard his name. "What? Are you afraid of your daddy's old friend?" Harry asked him, laughing.  
  
"Don't worry Potter. You'll be seeing the Dark Lord sooner than you expect!" Draco threatened him, "Come on guys, let's get out of here." Draco and his buddies walked out of the compartment and left them alone.  
  
"Did you hear that Harry?" Hermione said to him, worried.  
  
"Draco's just trying to scare me. Voldemort couldn't attack me while I was at Hogwarts," Harry said, sounding calm. But really, on the inside, he was quite worried.  
  
"What if Draco joined the Death Eaters?" Hermione suggested.  
  
"Well, we all know he hates non-purebloods. So, I guess it could be possible," Harry said to her.  
  
"But Harry, that could mean that he really was telling the truth!" Hermione said to him, "You-know-who could be planning something big to kill you while you're at Hogwarts."  
  
"I don't know. I guess it could be possible, "Harry admitted, "I'll be right back. I have to use the restroom." Harry left the compartment and started to look for a restroom. He knew there must be one on the train somewhere. He entered the Prefect carriage, even though he wasn't a Prefect. He had heard Hermione once say that there was a bathroom in there. He saw what she had been talking about and entered the restroom. He shut the door behind him. Just then, he heard loud noises trampling on the top of the train, and the train stopped. He heard girls screaming, and then he left the restroom to see what was wrong. 


	5. Chapter Five New Powers

He stepped outside and then began to feel very cold. He knew what it was. It was dementors. He whipped out his wand and gathered all the prefects. The ones who weren't Slytherins, knew how to perform a Patronus spell, since they had all been in Dumbledore's Army last year. Harry and the prefects went outside the prefect carriage and ushered the younger students into the carriage. Harry saw one dementor and immediately started thinking happy thoughts.  
  
"Expecto Patronum!" Harry shouted and the stag erupted from his wand. It charged at the dementor, and before he knew it, the dementor was gone. The stag came back to him and started to circle him. Then he saw something he didn't want to see, there were tons of them, all around them. His patronus tried to get rid of all that it could, but it didn't get rid of too many. Harry felt weak and he fell to the ground. He wasn't going to give up now. He thought hard on happy thoughts. He thought about Quidditch. He thought about finding Sirius. He thought about Mr. Weasley becoming Minister of Magic. He thought of winning the Quidditch cup once again. He kept thinking happy thoughts.  
  
Everything went white. He did not know what was going on. He thought maybe he was dying. Maybe he received the Dementor's Kiss. His vision returned and he looked around him. The dementors were lying on the ground.  
  
"Harry! Are you alright?" he heard his Headmaster say. He looked out the door of the train to see Dumbledore getting closer, looking more worried than ever. "How did you do that Harry?" Dumbledore asked, amazed.  
  
"Do what?" Harry asked, confused.  
  
"You killed them. You didn't just drive them away. You killed them. Twenty-three of them to be exact!" Dumbledore exclaimed.  
  
"I killed them?" Harry asked, now even more confused.  
  
"Yes! I've never heard of someone being able to kill them!" Dumbledore told him. Harry felt weak and before he knew it, he was on the ground, not being able to get up. "Let's take him to the hospital wing," he heard Dumbledore say. He was lifted onto a stretcher and carried out to the school. He was carried to the hospital wing and then he could hear Madame Pomfrey's angry yells. He fell asleep and could not hear anything else.  
  
He lay there for about four hours before he finally woke up. When he did, Madame Pomfrey was right there, with a bar of chocolate for him to eat. He still felt pretty weak. He ate the chocolate bar, and began to feel warmer and more alive. She gave him a tray of food and told him that he could not do anything until he ate everything on the tray. He started to eat the food, but he really did not want to. He just wished he was back with his friends, Ron and Hermione. He ate though, and he ate it all. Madame Pomfrey came back within a half an hour and told him that Dumbledore had ordered her to take him to Dumbledore's office. He tried to get out of bed, but found that hard. He had to let Madame Pomfrey help him out.  
  
He stood up and began walking the familiar path to Dumbledore's office. Madame Pomfrey held him under the arm, and assisted him with walking. She seemed very angry and did not want Harry to leave the hospital wing.  
  
"Skiving Snackboxes," Madame Pomfrey said when she reached the gargoyles. They slid open, revealing the stairs. They went upwards toward the door to Dumbledore's office. Harry was about to knock, but Moody opened the door before he knocked. It seemed as though Moody had been watching the door with his magical eye. Madame Pomfrey walked him over to a nice seat near Lupin, and sat him down. Harry gladly took the seat, for he was terribly exhausted.  
  
"How are you feeling Harry?" Lupin asked him in a fatherly tone once Madame Pomfrey had left him.  
  
"Well, I'm still feeling kind of weak. It's hard for me to walk," Harry told him, "But I should be fine after I get some sleep tonight."  
  
"Yeah, I'm glad to hear that," Lupin replied.  
  
"Let this here meeting of the Order of the Phoenix on September the First, begin," Dumbledore spoke, starting the meeting. "As many of you are aware, Harry Potter is the first wizard ever to be able to actually kill a dementor," Dumbledore informed the members of the Order. Harry could hear murmurs of excitement around the room. People were obviously impressed with him. "We are glad to say, that Harry Potter has killed off twenty-three dementors who were under the control of Lord Voldemort. Leaving approximately still around one hundred dementors under the Voldemort's power," Dumbledore told them.  
  
"How is Harry Potter doing?" an elderly witch asked.  
  
"Why don't we ask him himself?" Dumbledore suggested. Harry tried to stand up, but found that his legs were still too weak.  
  
"I am still feeling kind of weak. My legs especially. But I think I will be fine after a good sleep tonight," Harry informed the crowd.  
  
"Okay, onto our next subject of discussion," Dumbledore said, motioning to Lupin.  
  
"I will be teaching the Defence Against the Dark Arts class this year, along with Nymphadora Tonks. Tonks will be assisting me during lessons, so that we may better teach these kids the skills they need to defend themselves in case something happens to them, like what happened earlier today," Lupin told the members of the Order.  
  
"Our first lesson will be on producing a Patronus form," Tonks added.  
  
"I can already produce one," Harry thought to himself.  
  
"Our next subject of discussion is the giants. What have you found Hagrid?" Dumbledore asked. Harry saw Hagrid on the other side of the room, and Hagrid stood up to give his findings.  
  
"Well, er, the giants, are not gonna help you-know-who, but they ain't gonna help us out to much either," Hagrid reported and then sat down.  
  
"Well, I guess that's good that they're not going to help out Voldemort. But we could've used their help," Dumbledore said, "Okay, that's all we have for tonight. Harry, please stay, I would like to talk with you." Everyone except Harry got up and left the room.  
  
"Harry, I want to talk to you about what happened earlier," Dumbledore said to him, looking concerned, "Tell me what you remember."  
  
"Well, I produced my patronus. But it couldn't take care of all the dementors. They were all around me. I fell to the ground. But I kept thinking extremely happy thoughts. Then everything went white. When everything was clear again, I looked up and they were just laying there, dead," Harry told Dumbledore.  
  
"All right Harry," Dumbledore replied.  
  
"Why do I have these powers?" Harry asked.  
  
"I think it's just meant to be this way," Dumbledore returned.  
  
"The prophecy?" Harry suggested.  
  
"Yes Harry. The prophecy. It says you have powers 'The Dark Lord knows not'. I think this is one of those powers," Dumbledore admitted.  
  
"Wow," Harry said, not knowing what to say.  
  
"I would like you to know that you will be having Occlumency lessons every Tuesday night and Animagi training every Thursday night," Dumbledore told him.  
  
"Yes professor," Harry replied.  
  
"I think it's best you get some rest Harry. You have classes tomorrow," Dumbledore instructed him.  
  
"Yes professor," Harry agreed. He got up, and with the help of Professor Dumbledore, walked back to the common room. He felt much stronger now and was able to do more of the work.  
  
He lie down in his bed, and fell right to sleep. He was still wearing his robes. That night, he had a strange dream. He was walking down the corridor in the Ministry of Magic and entered the Department of Mysteries. He went through one of the doors, which led him to the room with the veil. He heard a voice coming from the veil.  
  
"Harry! Help me!" the voice was saying. He knew that voice. It was the voice of Sirius Black. 


	6. Chapter Six The New Minister of Magic

He woke up the next morning, thinking about the dream he had had. He decided it was best not to tell the others about his dream.  
  
"Hello Harry," Ron said when he walked into the Great Hall.  
  
"Oh, hey Ron!" Harry said, sitting down next to Ron. Hermione was sitting across from him.  
  
"Is it true you killed twenty-three Dementors without using any wand magic?" Hermione asked him inquisitively.  
  
"Yep," Harry said, going about buttering his toast.  
  
"Wow! Nobody's ever done that before! Nobody's even killed one before!" she exclaimed, impressed by his techniques, "How did you do it?"  
  
"I have no idea," Harry said, very calmly, starting to eat his toast. Professor McGonagall came by and handed them their schedules. Harry looked at his to see what he had that day.  
  
"Just my luck," Harry exclaimed.  
  
"What?" Hermione asked him.  
  
"Potions. My first day back and I have Potions," Harry answered. He compared his schedule with the others. Hermione was in all of Harry's classes, but Harry wasn't in all of Hermione's classes, since she was taking some classes that he wasn't. Ron was in Harry's Care of Magical Creatures, Transfiguration, and Defence Against the Dark Arts classes. An owl came down to his table and Harry untied his copy of the Daily Prophet. He gave the owl four Knuts and it flew away. He looked at the first page and saw something that caught his eye.  
  
_**Harry Potter, Is He Really a Hero?**  
  
Yesterday, the Hogwarts Express was ambushed by a pack of Dementors. Harry Potter was on the train, and was able to take most of them down. He managed to make sure everyone was safe and nobody was hurt. One girl was hurt, a seventh year by the name of Cho Chang. The train was pulling into Hogsmeade Station, when a pack of around thirty Dementors attacked the train. Since You-Know-Who has become powerful again, the Dementors have left control of the Ministry and are no longer guarding Azkaban. Only a few remain guarding the dreadful prison of Azkaban. The Dementors have now joined You-Know-Who in his plan to rule over all mankind, and rid the world of all Muggles and non-purebloods. We all know that since Harry Potter was just a small little baby, You-Know-Who has been trying to kill him. But if it was Harry Potter that the Dementors were after, then is Harry Potter really a hero? It is my advice, that if you wish for your children to live a full life, you keep them away from Harry Potter. He may be the boy who lived, but he is a danger to all those around him.  
  
Rita Skeeter._  
  
Harry spat out his milk after reading this.  
  
"What is it?" Hermione asked, worried. Harry threw the paper at her pointing to the article. She sat there reading it, her frown getting deeper as she got to the bottom of the page. "I hate her!" Hermione exclaimed.  
  
"What?" Ron asked. Hermione gave him the paper and he read the article she had pointed to.  
  
"I thought you guys had a deal. This is certainly material that violates your little agreement!" Harry told her.  
  
"Yeah. And she's going to be in big trouble when I report her to the Ministry of Magic!" Hermione answered, with a little bit of angriness in her voice.  
  
"I hope she does get in trouble!" Ron said, joining the conversation.  
  
"Come on Harry, let's get to Potions," Hermione told him.  
  
Harry and Hermione headed off towards the dungeons for Potions class. They took some seats near the back of the class, away from where Malfoy was sitting. Harry was surprised to see Neville taking this class.  
  
"Neville? Why are you here?" Harry asked him, bewildered.  
  
"Snape insisted that I take this course. Probably so that he could have someone to annoy and make fun of," Neville answered, sadly.  
  
"Oh," Harry replied, feeling sorry for Neville. Snape had always had fun picking on Neville.  
  
"Today class, we will be taking some notes on Veritaserum. Some of us know the use of this very well," he said, glancing at Harry for a split second, "But I hope that this person knows not to interrupt me, Mr. Potter." Everyone turned around and looked at him. Harry felt like he was an animal in a cage at the zoo. "Now where was I? Oh, yes. Veritaserum..." Snape began. The sounds of Snape's voice started to trail away. Harry just sort of blocked them out. He knew that Snape was going to be talking about him the whole time, so why bother pay attention. The bell rang, and Harry stood up to leave. "So, Mr. Potter thinks he can just ignore me when I speak to him?" Snape said when Harry stood up.  
  
"I do not wish to argue with you every class this year," Harry said and then left the room, leaving Snape standing there.  
  
Harry and Hermione walked back to the common room and put their stuff in their dormitories. Harry was free the rest of the day. Hermione still had to go to A History of Magic. Ron had been off all day. Harry, Ron and Hermione all went down to lunch and found their regular seats at the table. They sat there eating their lunches; Harry and Ron went back to the common room. Hermione left for her next class.  
  
Harry and Ron entered the common room, which was completely empty except for a single girl sitting in a chair reading over one of her books.  
  
"Hello. I'm Harry. Harry Potter," Harry said to the girl, trying to make conversation. She looked like she was a new student.  
  
"Oh, hello. My name's Stefanie Riddle," she told him.  
  
"Riddle?" Harry asked, backing off a little.  
  
"Yep. Why?" she said in return.  
  
"Are you a new student?" Harry asked her.  
  
"Yes. I'm in sixth year. I transferred from Ridgely School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It's in America. I had to transfer because of...err...certain circumstances I'd rather not talk about," she told him.  
  
"Oh, okay. Are you in any way related to Voldemort?" Harry asked her. Ron gasped at the name.  
  
"Yes," she admitted. Harry backed away.  
  
"Get away! I knew it! You're here to trap me! Voldemort sent you, didn't he?" Harry yelled.  
  
"No!" she shouted back, "I hate him!"  
  
"Why?" Harry asked her, still unsure whether or not he should trust her.  
  
"You know how I said I had to transfer because of 'certain circumstances'? Well those circumstances were that Voldemort killed my parents! We are all telepathes and when my parents refused to join him, he killed them! My dad is his brother. Not by blood though. My dad was adopted by his father after his dad ran away," she told Harry.  
  
"Oh, well, sorry about the whole freaking out thing," Harry said, sorry for yelling at her.  
  
"I'm tired of people judging me by my last name," she said, very sadly, "Now please leave me alone. I'm trying to do some work." She got up and rushed off towards her dormitory.  
  
"Jeez, what crawled up her butt and died?" Ron said. They sat down on the couch and started to talk about Quidditch.  
  
"Okay, so we have me as Seeker. You as Keeper. We need two beaters and three chasers. I wonder how many people will try-out?" Harry asked.  
  
"I don't know. When can we have try-outs?" Ron asked him.  
  
"How about this Sunday?" Harry suggested.  
  
"Sounds good," Ron said.  
  
"Alright, you can be my co-captain, since you probably know more than me at Quidditch anyway," Harry told him.  
  
"Seriously?" Ron said.  
  
"Of course!" Harry answered. They created a sign with the information on it and hung it up on the house notice board in the common room.  
  
_**QUIDDITCH TRYOUTS**  
We will be having tryouts for the Gryffindor Quidditch team on the Sunday, September 8th at noon. You must be second-year or older to try-out for the team. We have openings for three chasers and two beaters.  
  
-Harry Potter, Quidditch Captain  
Ron Weasley, Quidditch Co-captain._  
  
They sat back down at the couch and started talking about people they would ask about trying out.  
  
"Dean and Seamus would probably be good," Ron told him.  
  
"Yeah. And Ginny would probably be good as Chaser," Harry replied.  
  
"Yeah. She's a pretty good flier," Ron told him.  
  
"So, did you ever get that Nimbus 2001?" Harry asked him.  
  
"Yup. Fred and George sent it to me the day before we left for school. Didn't I show it to you?" Ron said.  
  
"Nope, you never showed it to me," Harry answered.  
  
"Oh, I thought I had," replied Ron.  
  
When Hermione was done with her lesson, she came and sat down right next to Ron.  
  
"Hey Hermione! How was History of Magic?" Ron asked her.  
  
"Oh, it was fine. The same dead teacher," Hermione told him.  
  
"You think he would've stopped teaching by now," Harry replied.  
  
"Yeah. You'd also think he would realize that he was dead," Ron added.  
  
"How can he not notice that?" Harry said.  
  
"Don't be silly. Of course he knows he's dead! He just won't admit it to himself. It came as quite a shock to him!" exclaimed Hermione.  
  
"Yeah. I guess I would be pretty shocked if I woke up dead one morning," Ron returned, "Come on, let's go get some dinner."  
  
"Leave it to Ron to think of food," Harry replied.  
  
"Shut up," Ron said, laughing.  
  
They entered the Great Hall and took a seat. As soon as they did, Ginny showed up and sat right by them.  
  
"Hey guys! Have you had Defence Against the Dark Arts yet?" she asked.  
  
"Nope, not yet. We all have it Thursday," Harry told her.  
  
"Oh, well it's really cool with Tonks and Lupin teaching. They're way better at teaching it than any of the other teachers like Umbridge!" Ginny told them.  
  
"Yeah, I bet they are better. Anybody would be better than Umbridge. Except Voldemort himself," Ron said.  
  
"Good for you Ron!" Harry said.  
  
"What?" Ron asked.  
  
"You said his name!" Harry told him.  
  
"I did? Wow! I guess I did! That's probably because I'm getting used to it, with being around the Order members and what not," Ron replied.  
  
"Yeah, that probably helped out," Harry admitted. The food appeared and Harry ate it all up. He had missed the giant feast last night when he was in the hospital wing. He looked over at the Ravenclaw table, and he did not see Cho. I guess the article was right. She was seriously ill. He decided that he would go visit her the next day after lunch. After eating dinner, they all headed off to sleep. Harry and Hermione had Charms the next day. Ron had to go to Herbology the next day. Harry fell asleep and did not have any weird dreams. He did however, dream about Sirius falling behind the veil. But it was just a normal dream like the ones he had had right after the event happened.  
  
He awoke the next morning and went down to breakfast with Ron and Hermione. But first he had the hard task of waking Ron up. He finally managed to wake Ron up as soon as he said the word 'breakfast'. Harry should've known. Ron lived for food. They went down to the Great Hall and ate their breakfast. Harry had only a piece of toast, not feeling very hungry. The Daily Prophet came, and Harry looked at the front page. It had an article that greatly interested him.  
  
_**The New Minister of Magic  
**  
As you are aware, Cornelius Fudge stepped out of office when the announcement of the return of You-Know-Who came along. Albus Dumbledore has been filling in for him since his absence. But Albus Dumbledore cannot hold on to this position for long, since he is the Headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Arthur Weasley, the head of the Department for the Improper Use of Muggle Artifacts Office, and Dolores Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic, were the two main competitors for this office. Elections were recently held to decide who would be voted as the new Minister of Magic. The votes are in and we are pleased to say, that Arthur Weasley is the new Minister of Magic.  
  
To see some of his plans, go to Page Six  
To hear what Dolores Umbridge has to say, go to Page Eight_  
  
"Ron! Read this!" Harry said as he passed the paper to his best friend. Ron carefully scanned the article. His grin broadening as he got to the end.  
  
"Wow! My dad's the new Minister of Magic!" Ron yelled out.  
  
"Really?!" Hermione said, grabbing the newspaper. "This is great!" she shouted after reading it. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all really happy to see the news, and by the looks of it, so were Professor Dumbledore, Tonks, and Lupin, who were all sitting at the front table with a copy in their hands.  
  
They headed off to their classes, Harry and Hermione going to Charms, while Ron went off to Herbology. Harry and Hermione entered their classroom to see a lot of people taking this class. It seemed as though it was the same class they had been having these past five years, except without Ron. Professor Flitwick was at the head of the class, as usual, still speaking in the same squeaky tone that Harry hated to hear.  
  
"Today class, we will be going over a charm for creating new objects out of thin air. You need to concentrate hard, thinking very carefully about the object you wish to create," he told the class, "You need to imagine every detail very closely. If you do not, you will get a deformed object, not what you are wishing to get. All you do is think about it, close your eyes, point your wand at the desk, and say 'Creo Insumo'. This will create your desired object. Try to create a quill, and then show it to me. Begin."   
  
Harry closed his eyes and tried to block all thoughts, remembering his Occlumency lessons. He thought hard about the quills. He imagined every detail of it. From the top of the quill, all the way to the point of the quill, used for dipping ink. He pointed his wand at his desk, and said, very calmly, "Creo Insumo!" He opened his eyes up, and to his surprise, there laid a single quill on his desk. He picked it up and found that it felt exactly like a regular quill. He took it to Professor Flitwick, who was amazed at his work.  
  
"Nice job Mr. Potter! Fifteen points for Gryffindor!" Professor Flitwick said. Harry went back to his seat and put his stuff on the desk. He was very proud of his work.  
  
"Wow! That was great Harry! You think you could help me a little?" Hermione asked him.  
  
"Sure," Harry agreed. He helped Hermione out, telling her that first she needed to clear her mind of all thoughts. She tried it once more, and got a quill that was full of holes. "Okay, we're making some progress," Harry told her. He instructed her once again on how to clear her mind, and when she tried again, she did it right. She showed Professor Flitwick and then came back to her seat.  
  
"Wow! Harry, you're such a great teacher," Hermione told him.  
  
"Thanks Hermione," Harry replied.  
  
"Have you thought about restarting the D.A.?" Hermione asked him.  
  
"I don't know," Harry said to her.  
  
"You really should! It was great!" Hermione told him.  
  
"I might. I just don't know at the moment," Harry told her.  
  
"Alright," she gave in.  
  
They went off to the common room and dropped their books off before heading off to the Great Hall for lunch. Ron was already sitting there stuffing his face with food.  
  
"Hey Ron, how was Herbology?" Hermione asked him.  
  
"Oh it was fine. Not that many people are taking it. There's only four. Me, Neville, Parvati Patil, and Lavender Brown," Ron told them, "How was Charms?"  
  
"Fine. We learned a new charm today, to create things with your mind. Here, take this quill I made," Harry said, handing Ron one of the many quills he had managed to make with his mind during his last class.  
  
"Oh, thanks!" Ron said, taking the quill.  
  
"I have to go talk to Dumbledore now," Harry lied. He was actually going off to the hospital wing to see Cho. He got up from the table and went off towards the hospital wing. Ron and Hermione were still at the table talking and eating lunch.  
  
He went down the corridors, and entered the hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey stopped him at the door.  
  
"What's wrong this time, Potter?" she asked impatiently.  
  
"I was just wondering if I could see Cho," Harry told her.  
  
"Oh, don't be too long though. You might disturb the other patients. I don't see why you would bother. She can't hear or see anything," Madame Pomfrey told him before stepping into her office. Harry walked down the rows of beds, to the very last one. There she was. Cho Chang was lying on the last bed of the wing; nobody could tell she was there. She was not moving, and Harry couldn't even tell if she was breathing. He had to take her pulse to make sure. When he did, he found that she did have a pulse, just not a normal one.  
  
"This is all my fault," Harry said out loud, "The article's right. Voldemort is after everyone I loved. He's killed all my family, even the Dursleys. I know they didn't love me like a family should, but they're still my family. It's my fault Cho is lying here." Harry felt really bad, but did not know what he could do. Madame Pomfrey came over to him after he had been sitting there holding her hand for about fifteen minutes.  
  
"Will she be okay?" Harry asked.  
  
"I'm not sure. I'm really not. But I hope she is," Madame Pomfrey told him, looking really worried.  
  
"Okay," Harry replied, leaving the hospital wing.  
  
He went back to the common room and sat his books down in the dormitory before heading down to the main common room where Ron and Hermione were sitting. Harry pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill and began his Potions homework. Write an essay about the uses of Veritaserum. One and a half scrolls. Hermione was practicing the creation charm. She still had not mastered it, although she did seem to be getting better at it. Harry sat there quietly working on his essay. He had finished his essay just in time for dinner. They went down to the Great Hall where they all ate their dinner. Harry loved eating at Hogwarts. It was much better than at the Dursleys. He hardly got fed there. But here at Hogwarts, he got tons of food.  
  
After dinner was done, he headed to Professor Dumbledore's office for his first Occlumency lesson of the year.  
  
"Skiving Snackboxes!" he said as he reached the gargoyles. They parted for him and gave him access to the stairs leading up to Dumbledore's office. He went inside the office, which looked perfectly normal now. There was not a ton of people in there. In fact, he, Dumbledore, Snape, and Lupin were the only ones in there. All of the shiny metal gadgets were fixed after last year, and everything looked just fine. He took a seat in front of Dumbledore's desk and got ready for some extreme head manipulation.  
  
"Are you ready Harry?" Dumbledore asked him.  
  
"Yes professor," Harry answered.  
  
"Let's begin," Dumbledore replied,  
  
"Legilimens!" Harry felt Dumbledore trying to get inside his head. Harry put up his barrier and immediately tried to repel the force. He could not do it. He began to see memories. Bad memories. Sirius falling behind the veil. His parents dying. Voldemort coming back to life. The Dursleys dead. Harry saw these and fought harder to push Dumbledore out. He tried strengthening his barrier and could feel Dumbledore getting pushed farther out of his mind. Suddenly, it all stopped.  
  
"Harry, you need to be practicing more. You did not succeed in pushing me out of your mind fast enough. That would have been enough time for Voldemort to get vital information," Dumbledore told him.  
  
"Sorry professor," Harry told him.  
  
"Let's try again," Dumbledore said, "Legilimens!" Harry felt the pressure and immediately tried to push him out. It would not work. He began to see very vague flashes of memories. He kept trying to push out Dumbledore, but found it to be too much work. He felt Dumbledore let off and heard Dumbledore's voice.  
  
"Harry, promise me you will practice," Dumbledore said to him, "It is very important that you do."  
  
"Yes professor," Harry replied.  
  
"Alright Harry, go get some rest. Keep practicing. Same time next week you will be here to continue your lessons," Dumbledore told him.  
  
"Okay," Harry said. He walked out the door, Lupin following him.  
  
"Harry, come to my office tomorrow after lunch. I would like to speak with you about something," Lupin told him.  
  
"Okay Moony," Harry replied. "Please don't call me that at school, Harry," Lupin told him.  
  
"Okay Professor," Harry said.  
  
"Alright, see you tomorrow," Lupin said, heading off in the opposite direction of him. Harry entered the common room to find that Ron and Hermione were nowhere in sight.  
  
"Oh well, I'll get a head start on sleep," Harry thought to himself, heading up to his dormitory. He entered his dormitory and got into his pajamas before getting into bed. He remembered what Dumbledore had said, "Harry, promise me you will practice. It is very important that you do so." Harry put up a barrier and went to bed, trying not to thing of anything. He fell asleep, and to his surprise, he just had a regular dream like all other kids. No Voldemort. No Sirius. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just a regular dream, like he hadn't had in a while.  
  
He woke up the next morning, and surprisingly, Ron was already awake. So was Hermione. They all walked down to breakfast together, and took their seats at the table. The Daily Prophet was brought by and owl, and Harry gave it four Knuts. He looked through the paper, and found that there was nothing in there that was interesting to him.  
  
"Oh well," he said. He threw the paper to Ron, in case Ron would see something interesting. Harry ate his breakfast, which was just his normal toast. He was not really in the eating mood this week. Today he had Transfiguration and then Astronomy at night. Ron was in his Transfiguration class, and so was Hermione. This was the first class that all three were in together.  
  
They entered the classroom and took their seats, waiting for Professor McGonagall to begin her lesson. There were, luckily, no Slytherins in their class. There were only five people there. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Dean, and Stefanie Riddle.  
  
"Hello class," Professor McGonagall said, shutting the door behind her as she walked into the room. "Today we will be going over the theory of transfiguring on living creature into a totally different living creature. It is one thing to transfigure a rat into a mouse, but it is totally different to transfigure a fish into a bird," Professor McGonagall told them. She went on about how it was different, having them take down notes, which Harry didn't hear the end of from Ron. This was perhaps why Ron was not in as many classes as he was. Ron did not want to have to write a lot of things down. Professor McGonagall told them that they would be starting to actually try to transfigure a fish into a bird in two weeks time. She said that they would have to prove to her that they were ready.  
  
"Any questions?" Professor McGonagall asked at the end of class. Interestingly, nobody had any questions. Everybody seemed to understand the class, even Ron. "Potter, I would like to see you after class," Professor McGonagall told him.  
  
"Yes, Professor," Harry replied. He was sick of hearing that. "Potter, I would like to speak with you," he always heard that from people. For once, couldn't they say someone else's name. It was like he was the only one that teachers ever wanted to talk with.  
  
After class, he stayed after, telling Ron and Hermione that he would meet them after his meeting with McGonagall.  
  
"Potter, I would like to talk to you about the Quidditch team," she told him.  
  
"Yes?" Harry asked, cheering up. He thought this would be a very serious conversation, but this was something he was actually interested in hearing.  
  
"Make sure you do not do anything this year that would make you miss practices. Last year was horrible with you and Umbridge. You are the Captain, and I do hope you will not be missing any practices. Good luck with try-outs this weekend. I hope you are able to find some suitable people for the positions. I am getting quite used to seeing this trophy in my office," she told him.  
  
"Yes, Professor," Harry replied, walking out the door towards the Great Hall.  
  
He entered the Great Hall and took a seat next to Ron.  
  
"What did she want?" Ron asked him.  
  
"Oh, she just wanted to talk to me about the Quidditch team. You know, tell me good luck with the tryouts and all," Harry told him.  
  
"Oh," Ron replied.  
  
"Hey Harry, I was thinking about trying out for Chaser," Hermione told him. Ron spat out all his drink.  
  
"What?" Ron said loudly.  
  
"I said I was thinking about trying out for the position of Chaser," she told him again.  
  
"Seriously Hermione?" Harry asked.  
  
"Yeah. I'm serious. Why wouldn't I be?" she asked.  
  
"I don't know, you just don't seem like the Quidditch playing type," Harry replied.  
  
"Oh, whatever," Hermione said.  
  
"My recommendation is to try for it. I mean, what's to lose?" Ron told her.  
  
"Yeah, I probably will try out," she told them both.  
  
"Alright, I have to go talk to Lupin. He said he had to talk with me today," Harry told them.  
  
"Alright, talk to ya later Harry!" Hermione shouted as he left the Great Hall.  
  
He headed off towards Lupin's office, which wasn't too far off. He knocked on the door and Tonks opened it.  
  
"Hey Tonks!" exclaimed Harry.  
  
"Oh, hey Harry!" Tonks replied, before leaving the office. Harry walked in and took a seat opposite Lupin.  
  
"Harry, I know it's been tough with the deaths of your parents and Sirius. I was really close with them too. But, they weren't my parents or godfather, so I guess you got the worse part of the deal. But I want you to know that I'm here for you," Lupin told him.  
  
"Okay Lupin," Harry replied, feeling guilty once more when Lupin had mentioned Sirius.  
  
"And now that the Dursleys are gone, you have no where to go during the summers, do you?" Lupin said.  
  
"No, I guess I don't have anywhere to go," Harry replied.  
  
"So, what I'm trying to get at is, err...well," Lupin tried to say, but couldn't get his words out.  
  
"What is it Lupin?" Harry asked, confused.  
  
"Well, I wanted to know if you would like it if I adopted you and became your legal guardian," Lupin asked him.  
  
"Wow! You really mean it?" Harry replied gleefully.  
  
"Of course!" Lupin replied.  
  
"That would be great! How do we make it official?" Harry asked.  
  
"Well, just sign here," Lupin told him, bringing out a piece of parchment. Harry signed it. "It's official now!" Lupin told him.  
  
"Can I call you dad?" Harry asked.  
  
"Sure," Lupin replied.  
  
"Thanks dad," Harry said, "Nevermind, that sounds too creepy." They laughed before Lupin told him that he had to go do something. Harry left the office feeling very happy, on his way back to the common room.  
  
He entered the common room where Hermione and Ron were waiting for him.  
  
"Hey guys," he said with a huge grin on his face.  
  
"What made you so happy?" Ron asked him.  
  
"Well, it's official," Harry told him.  
  
"What is?" Ron asked, confused.  
  
"Lupin's my new father!" Harry told him ecstatically.  
  
"Huh?" Ron said, now even more confused.  
  
"Lupin adopted me!" Harry told him.  
  
"Wow!" Ron said.  
  
"That's cool Harry! Your father is a teacher!" Hermione told him.  
  
"Yeah," Harry replied. They hung out until dinner, doing homework and playing chess. Harry beat Ron, but only because Ron wasn't really paying attention to the game. They went down to the Great Hall where they ate dinner, Harry was getting quite used to the food there.  
  
After dinner, they had Astronomy. They were instructed on how to use the new telescopes. They had received new ones this year, which were better and had a better magnification. They were instructed to map out the stars on a star chart and try to name all that they could. Harry tried, and managed to remember a lot more of the names than he thought he could. Astronomy wasn't too bad. He still wasn't very fond of the subject and didn't know why he was taking it. He wished he was like Ron, and didn't have to take Astronomy. That night, Harry once again had a normal dream, after remembering to practice his Occlumency and put up his barrier so Voldemort couldn't penetrate his mind. Instead, he fell asleep very quickly, having a very normal dream, a Voldemort-free dream. 


	7. Chapter Seven Animagus Training

That next day, Harry, Hermione, and Ron all went down to breakfast together. Harry just had his normal toast, and Ron ate everything else he could grab, other than Harry's toast. They were happy to be having Defense Against the Dark Arts that day. They had been waiting for that class all week. Ginny had been bragging to them about how much fun it had been. Harry especially wanted to go, since it was his new legal father that was teaching. He needed to talk with Lupin after class.  
  
Harry and the rest all headed off towards the classroom, happy as could be. There weren't a lot of other people taking the class. It was just Harry, Hermione, Ron, Stefanie, Dean, Seamus, Parvati, and Lavender. They were happy that no Slytherins were taking it. Lupin and Tonks came into the room, laughing about something.  
  
"Good morning. It's nice to see you all. My name is Professor Lupin, and this is my assistant, Professor Tonks," Lupin told them all.  
  
"Hello!" Tonks said, obviously happy about the class as well, "Hey Harry!"  
  
"Hey Tonks," Harry responded, not as enthusiastically. He thought Tonks was cool, but he was just too tired to be overly happy at the moment.  
  
"Today we will be starting to learn a new shield spell. Very complex," Lupin told them. Harry could hear groans from people, not wanting to do anything complex. Harry, however, was very excited about this. He could make use of an advanced shield spell. With Voldemort after him and everything, it would probably be useful. "Infragilis Contego. That is the shield. Just shout out Infragilis Contego, make swift wand movement like this," Lupin said, demonstrating how to move the wand just right. "And then the shield will appear. The more you practice, the faster it will begin to appear."  
  
"Infragilis Contego!" Harry shouted out. A yellow-orange string-like substance shot out of the tip of his wand. It gradually turned into a sphere around Harry, closing him in, completely. He kept his wand up, because if he were to let go, the shield would break. Harry could see people chatting and talking, but could not hear anything but his own thoughts. Professor Lupin signaled for him to stop, and he gladly did so.  
  
"Very good, Harry. If you practice more, the shield will begin to form in only a matter of two seconds," Lupin told him.  
  
"Thanks," Harry said.  
  
"Why don't you try it again?" Tonks suggested. Harry did so.  
  
"Infragilis Contego!" Harry shouted out. The same yellow-orange string-like substance shot out of his wand. It gradually turned into a sphere shape around Harry, closing him in. It had grown a little faster this time since Harry knew that he had to concentrate very much on it. He saw people watching him, pointing at him and murmuring things to the people next to them, although the images were kind of blurry. Everything looked a little orange and yellow. Lupin signaled for him to stop. He did so, since the shield seemed to have been draining every ounce of energy out of him.  
  
"Good job Harry," Lupin told him.  
  
"Class is done for today!" Tonks shouted out and everybody left except Harry.  
  
"Hey Harry. What can I help you with?" Lupin asked him.  
  
"Well, I was just wondering if I could get permission to research in the library using the Restricted Section," Harry told him.  
  
"For what?" Lupin asked him.  
  
"Well, you know, stuff," Harry told him.  
  
"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt anything," Lupin said. He pulled out a piece of parchment and scribbled something on it. He handed it to Harry.  
  
"Here, this should do it," Lupin said.  
  
"Thanks Lupin," Harry said. "See ya later Lupin. See ya Tonks!"  
  
"Bye Harry!" both Lupin and Tonks said at the same time.  
  
Harry went right to the common room, not feeling very hungry. Ron and Hermione were already there, talking with Stefanie. It seemed as though Hermione had become pretty good friends with her.  
  
"Hey guys," Harry said, walking into the common room.  
  
"Oh, hey Harry," Hermione replied. Harry sat down in one of the chairs by where they were sitting, and joined in their conversation.  
  
"I'm going to try out for Chaser," Hermione told them.  
  
"I'm going to try out for Beater," Stefanie told them.  
  
"Oh, okay. Are you sure?" Harry asked, not knowing whether or not they would be any good at playing Quidditch for the team.  
  
"Yep, why?" Stefanie asked him.  
  
"I don't know. Just curious I guess," Harry told them.  
  
"Oh," Hermione replied. They hung out in the common room for a while, discussing Quidditch, the Hogsmeade trip, and their classes. Then Hermione brought up a question that Harry wished she hadn't asked.  
  
"Are you starting up the D.A. again Harry? You told me you'd think about it!" Hermione said very loudly so the whole common room heard. Everybody came swarming over to where he was and crowded around him.  
  
"Well, I don't know if I will or not," Harry told them.  
  
"Come on Harry! Start it up again!" Dean said.  
  
"Yeah! We need to learn that kind of thing!" Seamus yelled.  
  
"Please Harry!" he heard basically everyone else in the common room say.  
  
"FINE! I'll start up the D.A. again if it makes you happy! I'll be in my dormitory if anyone needs me!" he shouted out, getting up and going off to his dormitory, very angry at everyone else for pressuring him into starting up Dumbledore's Army again. He laid down on his bed and closed his eyes. He fell asleep.  
  
He saw Voldemort. He was inside a dark chamber talking to someone who was in a hooded cloak.  
  
"How is the plan going?" Voldemort asked.  
  
"Very well. The boy will come," the other figure said. It was a soft, gentle, womanly voice. Harry did not know who it was though.  
  
"Yes, the boy will come indeed," Voldemort said, followed by his regular icy-cold laugh. Harry woke up with a startle. His body was covered in sweat and he was lying on the ground of the dormitory. Ron was standing over him.  
  
"Mate, are you okay?" Ron said, very worried.  
  
"I...I'm fine," Harry told him, getting up.  
  
"Are you sure? You don't look to well," Ron told him.  
  
"I said I'm fine. I could just do with some food. Let's go on down to dinner," Harry told him.  
  
"Alright," Ron agreed, still looking at him weird, afraid that his friend would collapse on him again. They entered the Great Hall where Hermione was sitting, talking with Ginny.  
  
"Hey Hermione," Ron said once they sat down.  
  
"Harry, sorry about earlier," Hermione said to Harry, totally ignoring Ron.  
  
"It's alright Hermione. Just don't try and make me do something. I was still thinking about starting it up. But next time you want me to do something like that, please don't announce it to the whole common room," Harry told her.  
  
"Alright Harry," Hermione said, "So, do you forgive me?"  
  
"As long as you promise not to interfere while I'm actually teaching at the D.A. meetings," Harry told her.  
  
"So you are starting it up again! You really are!" Hermione said out loud.  
  
"Yep," Harry told her. "Guys, there's something I need to tell you."  
  
"What is it Harry?" Hermione asked him.  
  
"Well, when I went up to the dormitory, I fell asleep. And I had a dream about Voldemort," Harry told them.  
  
"You need to tell Dumbledore," Hermione told him.  
  
"I knew you were going to say that. But, I don't really feel the need right at the moment. What if he's just trying to trick me again," Harry said to them.  
  
"Well, that could be true. What happened in the dream?" Ron asked.  
  
"Well, Voldemort was talking to one of his servants and they kept saying 'The boy will come.' I don't even know if I'm the 'boy' or not," Harry told them.  
  
"Well, it sure seems that you are. I mean, who else would he be going after?" Ron asked.  
  
"I'm not sure," Harry replied, "Well, I better get off to my lesson," Harry told them. He just remembered that he had Animagus training that night.  
  
"Okay, I'll see you later Harry," Hermione told him.  
  
"See ya Hermione. See ya Ron. See ya Ginny," Harry said to them all before walking out the giant doors of the Great Hall.  
  
He entered the classroom to find Lupin and Professor McGonagall already there waiting for him.  
  
"Hello Harry," Lupin said, smiling.  
  
"Hey Lupin!" Harry replied.  
  
"Hello Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall said in her regularly strict, stern voice.  
  
"Hello Professor McGonagall," Harry returned.  
  
"Today we shall begin to find out what your form shall be, if you have any forms at all," Professor McGonagall told him.  
  
"How do we find out?" Harry asked.  
  
"If you would be so kind as to not interrupt me, Mr. Potter, I will tell you," Professor McGonagall told him.  
  
"Harry, there are objects called Magus Papers. They were created in the Department of Mysteries a long time ago. They are used to find the animagus form that you can take," Lupin exclaimed.  
  
"Okay," Harry said, "I still don't understand." Professor McGonagall went over to the desk and pulled out a sheet of aqua-blue waxy paper.  
  
"What's that?" Harry asked her.  
  
"We are talking about Magus papers. What do you think they are Mr. Potter?" Professor McGonagall said, looking at him as if he was stupid. "Now, all I need to do is get a few drops of your blood on this paper," Professor McGonagall told him.  
  
"Okay," Harry said. He made a swift jerk with his wand towards his finger, and a cut appeared on his finger, starting to bleed. He held his finger above the paper, and watched as the blood slowly dripped from his finger, and onto the paper. He saw each drop make a splash on the paper, and then sink in. Afterwards, there was no trace of blood on the paper. He thought it was very weird. "So, how long does it take?" Harry asked.  
  
"One week," Lupin told him.  
  
"One week? I can't wait that long!" Harry exclaimed.  
  
"Patience, Harry. Patience is a virtue," Professor McGonagall told him.  
  
"Whatever," Harry said.  
  
"Now we need to discuss some of the theory behind animagi forms," she went on. Harry sat there at the desk, taking notes. It felt like he was in an actual class. He was just glad he wouldn't be having any tests on this. Although, he wouldn't put it past Professor McGonagall if she did give him a written test on the theory behind animagus forms. It was very boring, and Harry started to think that maybe these classes wouldn't be all that fun.  
  
"Okay Harry, we will meet here again next week on Thursday, where we will discuss the forms you can take," Lupin told him.  
  
"Do you have any questions Mr. Potter?" Professor McGonagall asked him.  
  
"Yes. Just one. Is it possible to take more than one animagi form?" Harry asked her.  
  
"It is possible, yes, but very unlikely. Only those who are the strongest wizards of all time, like the four founders, are able to have more than one animagi form. So I see it highly unlikely for you to have more than one form," she answered.  
  
"Oh, okay," Harry said to her before leaving.  
  
He decided not to go right back to the common room, but instead to go to the library. He wanted to go into the restricted section and look at some of the books. He entered the library and went over to the restricted section in the very back of the library where it was very dark.  
  
"What do you think you're doing in these parts of the library Mr. Potter?" Madame Pince asked from behind him. Harry pulled out the note and gave it to Madame Pince, who read it out loud. "I, Professor Remus Lupin, do hereby grant Mr. Harry Potter the privileges to use the restricted section of the Hogwarts library for researching purposes," she read it out, "Well, carry on then." She walked away and into a far corner of the library, where he could no longer see her. He went down one of the many rows of books, and started to look at the titles of the books. He could barely see, for there was only one candle around this row that was illuminating it.  
  
"Lumos," he muttered and his wand tip lit up.  
  
He searched through the books, looking for something that interested him. He eventually found a book and took it out to one of the tables. It was entitled "_Magic Without the Wand_". Harry thought this would definitely help him prepare for any attack by Voldemort. He began the book, and looked at the table of contents.  
  
_Animagus Forms.......................Page 1  
Elemental Magic........................Page 231  
Wandless Magic.........................Page 473  
Magic of the Gem....................Page 696_  
  
"I could use this," Harry thought as he took it. Madame Pince stopped him at the door.  
  
"Where do you think you're going with that?" she asked. He pulled out the note again and showed her the other side which allowed him to borrow any book for up to four weeks at a time. "Very well. Let me see that book," she said to him. He showed her the book.  
  
"You can't read that, can you?" she asked, looking confused.  
  
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be able to? It is written in plain English," he told her.  
  
"No it's not. It's written in a type of runic symbol method," she told him. He left out the door in a hurry, not wanting to talk to her anymore. He took the book to the common room and showed it to Hermione.  
  
"Harry, it is written in runic symbols. I don't even know how to read this," Hermione told him.  
  
"But, I can read it just fine," he told her.  
  
"Well, I don't know how. Unless you're some sort of super genius," she said to him as she snorted. She thought it was very funny that he was some sort of super genius.  
  
"Well, I'll look at it again tomorrow. I'm kind of tired," he told her before going up to his bed. He laid down in his bed and thought about the book. He thought about how he could possibly understand it if it was written in such a complex system of runic symbols. He fell asleep thinking of this, and when he woke up in the morning, it was just the right time for breakfast.  
  
He went down to the Great Hall with Hermione and Ron. Hermione kept shooting awkward glances his way, no doubt because of him being able to read such complex symbols. He ate his breakfast, which was considerably more than he normally ate. He looked at the Daily Prophet, looking for any articles that interested him. He found one that greatly interested him.  
  
_**Break in at Gringotts!**  
  
Yesterday, Thursday, there was a break in at Gringotts, seven men were trying to break open vault 713, and finally succeeded, but when they did, they found that the vault had already been emptied. They ran out of the bank and got away. Nobody saw who they were. This has made the goblins very mad, and they have all promised to secure the area better now. This has been the second break-in in a matter of seven years.  
  
For more information, turn to page 3._  
  
"Wow! Hermione, read this article!" he told her. She read it and gasped as she read the title.  
  
"Hold on, vault 713? That's the vault that Lupin and Tonks took something out of when we went to Diagon Alley!" Hermione exclaimed.  
  
"Hold on, that means that these seven men weren't just men. They were probably Death Eaters!" Harry said, a little loudly.  
  
"But what could they want so much that they would want to take?" Ron asked.  
  
"I don't know. The Sorcerer's Stone was already destroyed, so I don't know," Hermione told him.  
  
"The Sorcerer's Stone...Wait! Vault 713 was where the Sorcerer's Stone was being kept in my first year! I remember it! But, that couldn't have been the Sorcerer's Stone. One, it was destroyed, and two, the object Lupin and Tonks took out was nowhere near the size and shape of the Sorcerer's Stone," Harry told them.  
  
"Yeah," Hermione agreed.  
  
"Well, we better get off to Care of Magical Creatures!" Ron exclaimed and they got up to leave.  
  
They left through the giant oak doors of the school and set off through the schoolyard towards Hagrid's hut for Care of Magical Creatures. It was very foggy out, and they could barely see where they were going. But they did manage to make their way to class, without getting lost in the thick fog. They were the only three students in the class.  
  
"Well then guys, it's just us, so, let's err...get started," Hagrid told them when they arrived. They were astonished by the fact that they were the only ones in the class. "Well then, we will be starting today," he continued, rather nervously. He fidgeted through his notes, trying to find something. He began to talk about a mystical creature called a porgybess. "They do speak English rather well, and are very smart. They are very easily persuaded and will do most anything you tell them. They have very sharp claws, razor sharp teeth, and are much stronger than the average human. Of course, I'm not an average human," he said, laughing at the last part. Harry could tell Hagrid was trying to make his class as fun as possible. "Now guys, I will not give you any homework ALL year, as I know you have a lot to do, and Harry, could you please enter my hut once I'm done talking," he told them. He dismissed them and Harry went inside Hagrid's hut, waiting for him to walk in.  
  
Hagrid entered and then got them both a cup of tea, before sitting opposite Harry.  
  
"Yes, Hagrid?" Harry said, wanting to know what Hagrid needed to tell him.  
  
"Well Harry, there's a meeting tomorrow night in Dumbledore's office and he wanted me to let you know that you are welcome to come in. Also, he has asked me to administer the test on you, so I am willing to do that err...now, if you'd like," Hagrid told him.  
  
"Sure, what is the test?" Harry asked him.  
  
"Well, it's this thing, I have to make a mark on your skin. If the mark stays, then you are considered trustworthy to the Order. If not, then we cannot let you in. It is how we know when a meeting is being called. It's sort of like the Dark Mark," Hagrid told him, pulling out a big metal object.  
  
"Sure, I guess we could do that now," Harry told him.  
  
"Alright, here goes," Hagrid said, he took the metal object and put it against the shoulder of Harry. Harry winced in pain, for it felt like his flesh was melting off. "I know it hurts Harry, just calm down. It'll be over soon," Hagrid told him. Harry sat there, trying to deal with the pain. In fifteen minutes, the pain had gone away, and the mark had stayed. "Well Harry, this proves it, you're an official member of the Order of the Phoenix! Well, I'll see ya tonight," Hagrid said.  
  
"Just one thing, Hagrid, what did happen to Grawp?" Harry asked.  
  
"Well, you see, err...how can I put this? Let's see...well, when a male giant isn't around any female giants for a while, it sort of goes wild. Grawp ran off and is on his way back to his homeland, in search of a nice female giant friend," Hagrid told him.  
  
"Oh, I see," Harry said, "Well, I'll see ya later Hagrid!" Harry said and he went out the doors, heading for the common room.  
  
He entered the common room and went up to his dormitory to read some of his book. He was going to start at the beginning. Animagus forms. He laid there in his bed, reading the book, still pondering the question of how he knew how to read these ancient symbols. They did not look like symbols to him. He looked at the page and saw words, he hadn't even noticed that they were runic symbols. He began reading that first section, wanting to know all he could about animagi forms. He read all about them, getting fifty pages into the book, before sitting it down and going to the Great Hall for dinner with Ron and Hermione. Except Ron and Hermione weren't there. So he decided to go sit with Ginny.  
  
"Hey Ginny," Harry said, sitting next to her.  
  
"Hey Harry!" she said excitedly. "Ready for tryouts tomorrow?" she asked him.  
  
"Oh, of course!" he lied, he had forgotten all about the tryouts. He hurriedly ate all his dinner and headed back to the common room for some sleep. He had a long day ahead of him. 


	8. Chapter Eight Voldemort's Daughter

He woke up the next morning and went down to the common room. Hermione and Ron were sitting there talking.  
  
"Hey guys, where were you last night?" Harry asked.  
  
"Oh, we were doing some prefect duties. Nothing you should worry about," Ron told him, but Harry for some reason, did not believe that he was telling the truth.  
  
"Alright. So Hermione, are you trying out for the team today?" Harry asked, changing the subject.  
  
"Yep," she told him, and he could hear the nervousness in her voice, as it was quite shaky.  
  
"That's cool. I'm sure you'll do fine," he told her, trying to cheer her up.  
  
"Thanks Harry," she replied. They left the common room and headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast. There were hardly any people there, except from Gryffindor. It seemed as though everyone that was going to try out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team was already up and had started to eat. Harry knew how they felt. He knew that they would be nervous and knew that if he was trying out, then he would be just as nervous as they were. He, Ron, and Hermione all sat down at the table and began to eat. Harry ate a lot of food today, unlike all of the other days this past week. He was actually very hungry. Hermione however, did not eat a lot of food, probably out of nerves. She too was trying out for the Quidditch team. Harry could see Ginny walk in, but she was not looking nervous at all. He was very surprised. She sat down right next to him and grabbed some food.  
  
"Hey Harry!" she said, very excited.  
  
"Hey Ginny," he replied, "Aren't you nervous at all?"  
  
"Why should I be nervous? It's just Quidditch try-outs," she told him, very calmly.  
  
"She took a calming potion," Ron whispered to him, so she couldn't hear.  
  
"Oh," Harry replied, "That explains everything." Ginny continued to explain to him how she was surely going to become a Chaser for the Quidditch team. Harry couldn't help but believe her. He knew she would do way better than the other candidates. Now he was feeling quite uneasy too. He didn't want to hurt Hermione's feelings if he had to tell her that she didn't make the team. They left the Great Hall and went off to the common room and sat down in order to get some rest before the tryouts.  
  
They sat there talking. Ginny was still going on about how it was a sure thing for her to get on the Quidditch team. But everyone was just sort of ignoring what she was saying. She was getting quite annoying to the others. Hermione was still ranting about how she didn't know whether or not to try-out for the team. Harry kept reassuring her that she would do just fine if she did try-out. Ron was just sitting there, not saying too much. Harry could tell he was worried about Hermione not doing well and how they would have to tell her that she wasn't on the team. But other than that, Ron was quite excited about the upcoming tryouts. They hung around for a great deal of time discussing the tryouts before Hermione came to him with a question.  
  
"Harry, I was just wondering, er...well, since I, err...don't really actually of a broomstick, if I could, err...maybe, possibly borrow your Firebolt?" she asked him. He could tell she didn't really like the idea of borrowing from him because of all the pauses and the way her voice sounded so shaky when she was talking.  
  
"Sure," Harry told her, "Let me go get it real quick."  
  
"Thanks Harry," she replied, feeling very relieved. Harry went up the stairs to his dormitory and entered the dormitory to find Dean and Seamus in there getting ready to try-out. Harry proceeded over to where his trunk was and grabbed the Firebolt, which was lying right next to his brand new Lightning Storm, which he also grabbed, since he would need it for the tryouts. He went back down to the common room and over to where Hermione, Ron, and Ginny were standing, and he handed the Firebolt to Hermione. Ron had already retrieved his Nimbus 2001, which was in perfect condition, since he had never used it before. Ginny had an older looking broom, which he supposed was Fred or George's old broom. Fred and George probably bought new ones with all the money they had made. They all left the common room and went down to the entrance hall and out the door, heading towards the Quidditch pitch for the tryouts.  
  
Harry saw exactly the opposite of what he had expected. There were tons of Gryffindors there, ready to try-out. Dean, Seamus, Parvati, Lavender, and Stefanie were there, among others. Harry got in front of everyone, feeling kind of nervous. This was the first time he had ever held the tryouts.  
  
"Okay, now, the first people to be trying out will be the Beaters. Raise your hand if you wish to try-out for the position of Beater," he said out loud, so everyone could hear him. About ten hands shot up into the air. Among those who were going to try-out for Beaters, were Dean, Seamus, Stefanie, and Parvati. The others, he didn't really recognize.  
  
"Okay, here is how these tryouts will work. I will be a so-called Chaser. Every two minutes, another bludger will be added to the field. You will have to knock away all bludgers. If I touch the ground, or if I am hit, then the test is over. The number of bludgers out there when the test is over is the score you will receive. Do you understand?" he said to everyone, particularly those trying out for Beater. He heard a few people murmur 'yes', and he knew to continue. "First off, we will have Dean try-out," he told them.  
  
Dean walked over to Harry with his broomstick and rose into the air. So did Harry. Once they were in the air, Ron let out one bludger. Harry flew around on his Lightning Star, easily able to dodge the bludger, but he was not going fast on purpose, so that he could see what Dean could do to help someone on a regular broom. Harry just kept flying in circles around the pitch. He could hear people talking about his broom as he flew by them. He just snickered and kept flying. He knew they wanted his broom. After all, it was the best broom on the market. After the first two minutes, another bludger was added. Dean swung his bat, and hit a bludger that had almost hit Harry in the gut. He was glad that Dean blocked that one. Dean continued to block the bludgers, hitting them with all his might. Then Ron let out another bludger. Dean began to swing faster now, making sure to hit all bludgers within a ten-foot radius of Harry. This went on for a while. Obviously, Dean was very good. There was now seven bludgers out there. Dean became more aggressive, not wanting to lose now. Ron let out the eighth bludger, and then it hit him. Literally, the bludger hit him, right in the back.  
  
"Ouch!" Harry yelled out, before blowing his whistle. He landed on the ground, with Dean next to him.  
  
"Sorry about that Harry!" Dean exclaimed, making his way over to the bench.  
  
"Next up will be Stefanie," he told the anxious crowd. Stefanie walked up to him. He shook her hand as she stood next to him, and as he did, a very weird thing happened. One, his scar started to burn. Two, he had a flashback. He was standing in a dimly lit chamber. He saw Voldemort talking to someone in a hooded cloak.  
  
"How is the plan going?" Voldemort asked.  
  
"Very well. The boy will come," the other figure said. It was a soft, gentle, womanly voice. Harry did not know who it was though.  
  
"Yes, the boy will come indeed," Voldemort said, followed by his regular icy-cold laugh. Harry snapped back to reality. His body was covered in sweat and Ron was standing there looking at him very strangely.  
  
"Mate, are you okay?" Ron said, very worried.  
  
"I...I'm fine," Harry told him.  
  
"Are you sure? You don't look to well," Ron told him.  
  
"I said I'm fine. Just, let's get on with the tryouts," he told Ron, very sternly.  
  
"Fine, let's go. But I'll fly this time. You could use some rest," Ron replied.  
  
"Alright, fine," Harry returned, "Alright, get on your broom Stefanie, let's get this thing going."  
  
Stefanie got onto her broom and rose into the air. Ron also rose into the air, and when Ron gave him the signal that he was ready, Harry let out the first bludger. He saw Stefanie dart right for it, and smack it as hard as she could with the bat. The bludger went flying.  
  
"Wow! She's strong!" Harry thought. She would keep hitting the bludger very hard, and when the first two minutes were up, Harry let out the second bludger. She was looking like a very good Beater, and Harry could tell she would most likely be one of the new Beaters. She would hit the bludgers with full strength and Harry could tell that she was not getting tired at all. He kept letting bludgers out and it got to the point where there were eight bludgers, tying Dean's test. She was not showing any sign of weakness. All eight of the bludgers were trying to hit Ron, but Stefanie was doing very well at protecting Ron from them. Harry let out another bludger. He could see Stefanie begin to get tired, but she still went on. When two more minutes were up, Harry let out the tenth bludger. She began to hit them away. But then one of them hit Ron right in the neck. Ron landed, and Harry blew his whistle. Stefanie landed right beside him, looking proud of her work out there.  
  
"That was excellent Stefanie!" Harry told her. "Now, who else wants to try-out for Beater?" he asked the crowd, which was beginning to become less and less. Only two other people were left. Seamus and Parvati were left. The rest must have given up after seeing the others perform. "Who wants to go first?" Harry asked. Parvati raised her hand, volunteering to go first. He could see Stefanie walk over to the bench and sit down, grabbing a cup of water. Harry still could not stop thinking about what had happened when he shook her hand. Was she the one that Voldemort was talking to in that dream? He had seen it before, and maybe this was his brain trying to tell him that this was the person in the dream.  
  
"Harry? What's wrong?" Ron asked.  
  
"Oh, nothing. Sorry, I just got distracted," he said, laughing, "Okay Parvati, let's see what you can do!" She walked up to him and grabbed her broom.  
  
They rose into the air, and off they went, soaring through the air. Ron had let the first bludger out, and it was already chasing Harry. Parvati hit the bludger, and it went away for a few seconds. She hit it again. Harry could tell this wasn't working out too well.  
  
"Try hitting it with more force!" he told her.  
  
"Okay!" she yelled back. She tried hitting it with more force, but it still wasn't going away far enough. Ron let out the second bludger, and Parvati was not ready. She swung at the bludger and missed. It hit Harry right in the stomach, and he fell to the ground. He heard some people walk over to him including Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Stefanie. Stefanie touched his head, and everything went black.  
  
He could see Voldemort again. Was it the same dream? No, it wasn't. There were no other people in the room. Voldemort was talking to his snake, Nagini.  
  
"So, Harry Potter has met my daughter," Voldemort was saying. Voldemort's daughter? Surely he couldn't have been talking about Stefanie! The dream ended just as quick as it had started. He woke up and got to his feet.  
  
"I'm fine. Everything's all right. Just got the wind knocked out of me," he told everyone, not mentioning the fact that he had seen Voldemort once again. There was something very odd going on with Stefanie. He just didn't know what was going on. She couldn't be evil. She was a Gryffindor. But yet whenever he came in contact with her, he had these strange dreams.  
  
He called Seamus up, and told Ron that he should do the flying. Harry needed to rest, and have some time to think. He let Ron and Seamus rise into the air, and then he took a seat near the crate of bludgers. He let one out, and watched them go. Hermione walked over to him.  
  
"Harry, what happened?" she asked him.  
  
"Oh, nothing," he told her.  
  
"Harry, what's wrong? You've been acting strange today," she said to him.  
  
"Well, it's Stefanie. Something weird is going on with her. Every time I come in contact with her, I have these strange visions of Voldemort," he told Hermione, letting out another bludger, "And when I was knocked off my broom, she touched my forehead. Then I blacked out. Voldemort said something about me meeting his daughter. I don't know who that is though."  
  
"Yeah, I don't know, I'll try to think of something. You just keep on thinking about the tryouts and don't let anything else distract you," she told him.  
  
"Alright," he said, letting out the third bludger. He watched as Seamus batted away the bludgers. Harry continued to let out the bludgers one by one, every two minutes. There were nine bludgers out there, before one hit Ron. They both landed and then Harry began to speak again. "Everybody, listen up! The new Gryffindor Beaters shall be Stefanie and Seamus!" he exclaimed. Everyone cheered for the new members, and the other candidates for Beater walked off towards the castle. "Stefanie and Seamus, if you would please stay until the end, we will be having a team meeting," he told them. "Next we will be having Chaser tryouts." 


	9. Chapter Nine The Amazing Chaser

"Who will be trying out for Chaser?" Harry asked everybody. He saw about six people raise their hands, it seemed as though some of the people there were just there to watch the tryouts, not necessarily try-out. Among those who raised their hands were Hermione, Ginny, Lavender, and a few people Harry did not recognize. "First, we shall have Hermione Granger try-out. This is how they will work. Ronald Weasley will be the Keeper. I will let out a bunch of quaffles that will be scattered across the field. You will have to try to make as many in as possible in three minutes," Harry told everyone, "Do you understand?" When he heard everyone mutter 'yeah' and saw people nod their heads, he knew to begin. "Okay, Hermione, you're up first!" Harry told her.  
  
Hermione grabbed the Firebolt that she sat next to her and walked over to Harry. She mounted the broom and rose into the air. Harry went over to the bench and sat down. He continued to think all about how weird Stefanie was being. He counted the quaffles as they went through the hoops; he knew that Ron was not being fair. He was letting some easy shots in. She continued to score, throwing quaffles through the hoops. She was not going as fast as she could, although she did have the Firebolt, he did not know why she wasn't flying fast. If she wanted to be on the team, she needed to be fast. Harry watched as she made her sixteenth shot, she only had about forty-five seconds left. Ron was beginning to be harder on Hermione, not letting as many quaffles through, but once in a while she would make an easy shot. He saw Ron make some excellent saves, probably just showing off for Hermione. Harry now knew why Ron was the Keeper for the Quidditch team. He had been making these excellent saves. Harry blew his whistle, signaling the end of the round.  
  
"Twenty-two shots were made in three minutes!" he told the crowd. "Next, Lavender Brown will try-out!"  
  
Lavender Brown walked up to where Harry and Ron were standing. She was holding a Nimbus 2000, like the one Harry had before the Whomping Willow had destroyed it in his third year. Harry gathered up all of the quaffles, and scattered them around the field, using his wand to move them. He went over to the bench by the field and sat down. When he was ready, he blew his whistle, and Lavender began to chase after one of the quaffles. She threw her first one, and Ron blocked it easily. Harry knew from then on that Ron would not just let the quaffles through. He knew that Lavender would have to work to score, unlike Hermione who didn't have to do much to make the quaffle go through. He watched as Lavender made her first goal, with two minutes left.  
  
"She's going to be so pissed that Ron was letting Hermione score," Harry thought to himself. Lavender continued to shoot the quaffles, throwing them with more force, and more speed now. She made some shots, making her shot count go up to six shots made. Harry watched her; she was getting very angry every time she missed a shot. He could see Ron laughing as he blocked each shot. Harry blew the whistle as the three minutes came to an end, and Ron landed on the ground, along with Lavender, who looked like she was going to kill Ron.  
  
"Lavender Brown has made nine shots in three minutes!" he told everyone in the crowd of people, which had dwindled down to about eight people, not including Harry and Ron. "Next, Ginny Weasley will try-out!"  
  
Ginny walked over next to Harry, holding her broomstick. Harry was very excited to see whether or not Ron would be easy and let her make shots. Harry went and sat down on the bench, getting ready to watch Ginny. He blew his whistle and watched as they rose into the air. As soon as Ginny picked up her first quaffle, Harry started the timer. She shot the first quaffle and immediately went for a second. She tried shooting as fast as she could, grabbing a different quaffle every time she shot. He watched as one went through the hoops, then number two, and then number three, but it did not seem as though Ron was letting her score. Was she really that good of a chaser? Apparently she was very good. He watched her score even more, she was now moving faster towards the quaffles. It seemed as though she really wanted to show Hermione that she could score more. He watched his watch dwindle down to the one and a half minute mark, with Ginny already putting twelve quaffles past Ron. She threw another quaffle, and he watched it soar through the center hoop. Harry was amazed at how good she was doing. He knew she was good, but he didn't know she was that good. But then again, Ron could've actually been letting Ginny score, but Harry did not think that was happening. He truly believed she was putting the quaffles past Ron because of her skill. He watched his watch hit the ten-second mark. Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. Harry blew his whistle, and Ginny landed, Ron right along side her.  
  
"Ginny Weasley has scored a total of twenty-three points in three minutes!" Harry exclaimed. "So, who else wants to try-out?" he asked the crowd. Two guys raised their hands. "What are your names?" Harry asked them.  
  
"Jeff Anderson," one of them told him.  
  
"Randal Graves," the other answered.  
  
"Randal, you're up first," Harry told them.  
  
The boy named Randal walked up to Harry, and Harry was surprised that he was holding a Lightning Star, the newest broom on the market. Harry used a simple spell he had learned from Hermione in order to scatter all of the quaffles throughout the field, making it hard to reach them.  
  
"Are you ready guys?" he asked Randal and Ron.  
  
"Yep," they both replied. Harry blew his whistle and watched as the kid flew into the air. Harry watched as Randal grabbed the first quaffle and threw it at Ron. The quaffle went soaring by Ron, who didn't have a chance at blocking that one. This kid was throwing the quaffles at great speed, and with great accuracy. There was no way Ron was going to block these shots. Ron did manage to block a few shots, and a few shots just plain missed because of the lack of accuracy. Harry watched as Randal picked up a few more quaffles and shot them at the same quick speed, although it seemed as though they were getting a little bit slower, and Randal was getting tired of shooting non-stop at that fast of a speed. Harry blew his whistle after two and a half minutes, as he had already gone way over the leading scorer, Ginny. He had already scored thirty-five times in two and a half minutes.  
  
"Wow! Randal, that was amazing! I'm so glad you're on our team! Thirty-five shots in two and a half minutes!" exclaimed Harry as Randal landed along side of Ron.  
  
"That was the best work I've ever seen. Truly amazing," Ron said to Randal.  
  
"Well, Jeff Anderson, you're up last," Harry told him.  
  
The boy who called himself Jeff walked up to Harry and Ron, holding a Firebolt. Harry was amazed at this also. He was glad that they might have someone else that had a very nice broomstick. Although Harry didn't know if he could beat Hermione's score, even though Ron did let Hermione get those points. Harry used the same simple spell as earlier to move the quaffles to different positions on the field, so he could see the flying skills and speed of the chasers. Harry asked them if they were both ready, and when they both nodded their heads 'yes', Harry blew his whistle, signaling the beginning of the three minutes. Both of the guys rose into the air, and Ron began to guard the hoops. Jeff went after the first quaffle and picked it up. He threw the quaffle, and Ron blocked it easily. Harry could tell right away that Jeff was not going to get onto the team. Jeff dove after the next quaffle and threw it at the hoops, hoping that it would go through one, but it did not.  
  
He was getting quite angry now, and began to get some speed. He was throwing the quaffles with more speed, and was flying towards the next quaffle with more speed. Harry watched as the timer ticked downwards to the two-minute mark. Jeff had scored twice by now, and was going for another quaffle. He was determined to at least beat Lavender's score of nine. Jeff went after the next quaffle diving for one that was right above the ground. He dove and pulled up just before he hit the ground, probably just trying to show off his flying skills. Jeff picked up the quaffle and shot, making it through the center hoop, fooling Ron, who thought he was shooting for the left hoop. The clock hit the thirty-second mark, with Jeff making his ninth shot. He went for his tenth, and made it through. Now he was not in last place. He continued to shoot. Each time, Ron blocked it. When the three minutes were up, Harry blew his whistle, causing Ron and Jeff to land on the ground beside Harry.  
  
"Jeff Anderson has made a total of ten shots. Which means that the new Gryffindor House Chasers will be Randal Graves, with thirty-five shots, Ginny Weasley, with twenty-three shots, and Hermione Granger, with twenty-two shots. If all of the team members would kindly make their way over to the bench, we will meet with each other for a little while, discussing our plans for practice, and our schedule, which I received a few days ago, I would also like to get to know the new members a little better. All others may go back to the common room," Harry said, who immediately walked over towards the bench after he was done his speech.  
  
Harry stood in front of the bench, where he waited for the rest of his team to gather around.  
  
"Okay guys, and girls," he began, "I want to win that trophy once again. I am getting quite used to seeing that trophy being held up after the last game by a group of happy-looking Gryffindors, and I expect that this year will be no different. Just because we have lost many players from the team, it doesn't mean we can't win this year. First I want to go around and introduce ourselves. I, of course, am Harry Potter, the Captain, and Seeker of this team."  
  
"I am Ron Weasley, Co-captain, and the Keeper of the team. I am in my sixth year, along with Harry," Ron told the team.  
  
"I am Hermione Granger, a sixth year as well, and I just joined the team as the new Chaser," Hermione spoke out, sounding very sophisticated.  
  
"I am Ginny Weasley, new Chaser of the team, and I am in my fifth year here at Hogwarts," Ginny said, her cheeks turning red as she started to speak to the team.  
  
"I am Stephanie Riddle, one of the new beaters, and I am in my sixth year. I just transferred this year from Ridgely School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the United States," Stephanie shared with the group.  
  
"Hello, my name is Randal Graves, I'm in my fourth year here at Hogwarts, and I am a new Chaser," Randal told the team.  
  
"And I am Seamus Finnigan, I'm in my sixth year here, and I am a new beater for the team," the last team-member introduced himself to the group.  
  
"Okay, onto our schedule. Our first game of the season shall be against Hufflepuff. This game should not be too bad, as we are an excellent team, and quite frankly, Hufflepuff is not that great. This is a good first game, as we will still be learning to work together, and an easy to beat team will suffice as a good team to 'practice' against first, before we hit Slytherin," Harry told the team, "It will occur on the Sunday, October 13th at noon."  
  
"Yes, that will be quite an easy game, I suppose," Ron agreed.  
  
"Yep. Then we will play Ravenclaw, which will be a little harder, since they do have a good seeker, of course that is if Cho comes back from the horrible state she is in," Harry continued, "It will be more difficult than the Hufflepuff game, but not nearly as difficult as when we play Slytherin. The Ravenclaw game will take place on Sunday, December 8th." Harry heard some murmurs, as the team members got excited for their games. It seemed to Harry as though this would be an excellent year for Quidditch, since his team members were very enthusiastic.  
  
"Our last game of the season will come on February 23rd against Slytherin. There will be only one game after that, Hufflepuff vs. Ravenclaw, which of course does not involve us. But our game against Slytherin is going to be the most important game of the year. They are our main competitors, and we need to defeat them. I will keep you updated on the points each team has, since that would determine who wins the championship, and I believe that you guys, and girls, have a right to know what we're up against, points wise," Harry told the team. He heard some people whisper about the Slytherin team, and Harry decided to continue talking about the team.  
  
"We will have practice twice a week. Once on Mondays, and once on Wednesdays," Harry told the team. "Do you understand? Any questions?" he asked. When nobody asked anything, he knew they had no questions, and told them they could go do what they wanted to. Harry, Ron, and Hermione all went to the common room to chill out for a little while. 


	10. Chapter Ten The Informant

They hung out for a while, talking about the Quidditch team, and how they couldn't wait for the first game. Harry told them how there was an Order meeting that night, so he had to go to that. When they got hungry, they went down to the Great Hall for lunch. They ate their lunch, which consisted of some sandwiches, and plenty of them. Harry was very hungry, and by the looks of it, so were his friends. They had all eaten a lot of sandwiches. They are the sandwiches in front of them before heading back to the common room. They sat there practicing some of the spells and charms they had learned over the week, and worked on some of their essays for Potions. They worked hard on their homework, wanting to get done before dinner.   
  
They ate a huge dinner as always, which included a main course of pork chops, with sides of biscuits, potatoes, and some weird looking green gooey things, which Harry did not dare try, but it seemed as though Hermione had had them before, as she was eating it. Harry did not know what it was, and he was not going anywhere near it.  
  
"What is that?" Harry asked.  
  
"Oh, it's got this weird name. It's French. My mother makes it all the time. But I can never say the name right," Hermione answered, laughing at the fact that she didn't know how to pronounce it.  
  
"Well, French things are always weird and hard to pronounce," Harry replied, shrugging.  
  
After dinner was over, Harry rushed off to Dumbledore's office, while Ron and Hermione went to the common room. Harry walked to the gargoyles and when he got there, said the password, which was "Skiving Snackboxes". The gargoyles slid apart, revealing the staircase, which Harry climbed eagerly, wanting to know what was going on with Voldemort. He entered the office, without knocking, and sat down in a chair next to Lupin.  
  
"Hey Harry, how have things been goin'?" he asked.  
  
"Oh, pretty well, tryouts went good. Hermione, Ginny, and Randal Graves are the new Chasers. Stefanie Riddle and Seamus are the new Beaters," Harry told Lupin.  
  
"Really? Stefanie Riddle? You don't really want to hang around with her," Lupin said.  
  
"But she's not blood related to Voldemort," Harry told him.  
  
"I know, but still, isn't it kind of freaky?" Lupin asked him.  
  
"Well, sort of, I guess," Harry told him.  
  
"If you would all take a seat, this meeting shall begin," Dumbledore said. Everyone in the room took a seat. He saw Tonks sit down, rather angry, since she always liked to be moving. She didn't like sitting down. Dumbledore continued to speak, "As many of you are aware, there has been a break-in at Gringotts. Vault 713, the Order of the Phoenix vault, was broken into. As you may be aware, we did take-out the last remaining item in there at the beginning of this school year, so there was nothing for the robbers to take. Kingsley and Alastor, I trust you will be able to go there and look for anything that will help us to find out who exactly broke in. We are suspecting Death Eaters, and if so, it would be good if we knew who."  
  
"Sir, I have a question," Harry said.  
  
"Yes, Harry?" Dumbledore replied.  
  
"What was in the vault that you took out in the beginning of the year?" he asked.  
  
"Well Harry, it's an ancient item used for the restoration of the soul. In other words, it can bring someone back from the dead. But only if used in a certain ritual, that we know Voldemort knows how to perform. That is why we must not let him take the Novo Animus," Dumbledore told him.  
  
"Severus, do you have any information?" Dumbledore asked.  
  
"Yes, Dumbledore. Voldemort is very angry that they could not get a hold of the Novo Animus. They are planning on finding something else, which I don't know the name of, that will help them bring back old members. They tried using the veil, but found they did not have enough power. Voldemort himself cannot go use the veil, since it is in the Ministry of Magic building, so he has sent various members, such as Rodolphus Lestrange to try to bring back the dead, but these members did not have enough magical power to bring them back," Snape told the group.  
  
"Okay Severus, if you could possibly find out what they're after, that would be a big help to us," Dumbledore told him.  
  
"Yes sir," Severus replied.  
  
"Onto Peter Pettigrew. We have found out vital information relating to Harry Potter. Harry is of course Voldemort's first target, so we do need to continue our strong watching of him, making sure nothing could happen to Harry. We have found that the Death Eaters have yet again begun to try to get aide from the giants. That is why Hagrid will not be here at Hogwarts teaching for the next two months at least. So, Professor Grubbly-Plank has volunteered to come back and teach Care of Magical Creatures at the N.E.W.T. level, and below, too. I hope this time Hagrid will possibly be able to persuade the giants. Hagrid told me he has a great plan, and I do, as I have before, believe in him," Dumbledore told the group. Harry did not like the fact that Hagrid would not be teaching them for a while, but it was for a good cause, the best cause in Harry's mind. He would just have to live with it.  
  
"Do any of you have any questions?" Dumbledore asked.  
  
"Yes, professor, I have one. Does Voldemort have a daughter?" Harry asked.  
  
"Not that I know of, why?" Dumbledore replied, with a moonstruck look on his face.  
  
"Well, you see, I had this dream out on the Quidditch pitch today. I could see Voldemort again. There were no other people in the room. Voldemort was talking to his snake, Nagini. 'So, Harry Potter has met my daughter,' Voldemort was saying, with his cold, evil laugh. The dream ended right there. There was something very odd going on with Stefanie Riddle. The dream happened as soon as she touched my forehead," he told Dumbledore.  
  
"Hmmm...That's very strange. We'll have to look into that. I never knew that he had a daughter. Or maybe he's just trying to make you think that, to trick you," Dumbledore replied. "If that is all, you may leave," the Headmaster told them. Nobody asked anything else, so they were free to leave.  
  
Harry walked back to his common room, but walked right into Draco Malfoy on the way there. "Well, well, if it isn't Potter. Where are your friends, Potter?" Draco sneered.  
  
"Well, well, if it isn't the ungrateful Malfoy. Where is your father, Malfoy?" Harry mocked.  
  
"I'm going to, to..." Draco trailed off.  
  
"To what?" a voice said from behind him. Harry turned around to see Tonks walking up to him. "Go to your common rooms, boys," Tonks said to Draco and his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle. Harry and Tonks continued walking towards the Gryffindor dormitory. They talked about the new players on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. She wished him luck as they reached the portrait hole, and headed to her office. Harry however, went inside the common room to see Ron and Hermione sitting on the couch in the common room by the fire, waiting for him.  
  
"Hey guys," Harry said.  
  
"Hey Harry, how was the meeting?" Hermione asked.  
  
"You'll never believe what is going on!" exclaimed Harry.  
  
"What is it?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Well, Dumbledore said he does not know of any daughter of Voldemort, but he said that he will look into it, and try to find out if he does have a daughter," Harry told them.  
  
"What else?" Ron asked, very excited.  
  
"Well, I found out what was in the vault," Harry told them.  
  
"What was in it?" Hermione asked, with a big grin on her face.  
  
"The Novo Animus. It's an ancient magical item that is used to restore the soul of a dead person. Voldemort tried to take it, but found that the vault was empty when he sent death eaters to break in. So, they are after something else to help them bring back some of Voldemort's old followers from the dead," Harry replied.  
  
"Anything else?" Ron continued to ask Harry.  
  
"Well, the Death Eaters are trying to get the help of the giants again, and so is Hagrid. Professor Grubbly-Plank will be teaching us for at least the next two months," Harry told them, still saddened by this news.  
  
"Oh no! Hagrid won't be teaching us for a while? This stinks," Ron replied, he too was saddened by the news. Hermione was also looking kind of sad, but not as sad as Ron.  
  
"Well, I better be getting to bed," Harry told them. They all headed off to their dormitories, Ron and Harry heading to the boys, Hermione heading to the girl's dormitories. Harry lay down on his bed, falling directly to sleep.  
  
His dream that night was not normal at all. He dreamt he was at the veil again. He could hear Sirius' voice. "Harry, help me!" it was saying. Harry did not like hearing his dead godfather's voice calling to him for help. Harry knew there was nothing he could do. "Get me out of here!" he heard Sirius saying again. He knew Sirius was in trouble, and that Sirius was still alive. Sirius was trapped in a different world, where he would eventually die. He needed to find a way to get Sirius back, and he had to do it fast.  
  
He woke up the next morning, and went down to the Great Hall with Hermione and Ron. They sat down at the table and began eating, when Hermione got a letter. The owl dropped the letter in Hermione's lap, and flew off towards the window.  
  
"Who is it from?" Harry asked her.  
  
"I don't know," Hermione replied. She read the letter and gasped as she reached the end. Harry took the letter from her, and read it to himself.  
  
_To Mrs. Hermione Granger,  
  
We are sorry for any information that has led you to believe that Rita Skeeter is an illegal animagus. We have looked in our records to find that Mrs. Rita Skeeter has been recorded as a legal animagus, after passing her animagus test this past August. We would like to say that next time you feel the need to report something, please check your facts._  
  
Harry passed the paper to Ron, who after reading it had a face contorted with anger.  
  
"How dare she!" Ron exclaimed.  
  
"I hate that woman!" Harry replied.  
  
"That stupid Skeeter woman," Ron agreed.  
  
"Trust me, we'll get her back for this," Harry told the other two friends.  
  
"Of course we will," Ron agreed. They hurriedly ate their breakfast, not wanting to be late for potions, although they really didn't like that class. Once they were done, Harry and Hermione headed off for Potions, Ron heading off to the common room.   
  
They entered the dungeon classroom, and sat in their normal seats, and when Neville walked in a few minutes later, he took a seat next to Harry.  
  
"Hey Harry, how've you been?" Neville asked.  
  
"Pretty good," Harry replied.  
  
"So, are you starting up the DA again?" Neville asked.  
  
"Yup," Harry told him.  
  
"You are?" Hermione asked.  
  
"Yes, I finally decided for good. I am starting it up again, with the help of Professor Lupin," Harry told them.  
  
"Wow! That's great Harry!" Neville exclaimed. Harry got out all of his potions materials as Professor Snape walked into the room. As he walked by Harry's desk, a piece of parchment fell out of his robes, and Harry picked it up. Just as he was about to raise his hand to give it back to Snape, he decided maybe he should take it back to the common room and read it. He might be able to get some answers.  
  
He turned his attention back to Snape, who had begun talking about the lesson.  
  
"If you would please pass in your essay on Veritaserum, we will get started," Professor Snape said. The students all passed in their essays, and Snape piled all of them on his desk.  
  
"Today class, we will be discussing Veritaserum more in depth. We will learn about what is in the potion, and why it works so well," Snape told them. They took out their books, and turned to the section on Veritaserum, one of the first chapters in the book. Snape began discussing all of the ingredients they would need for the potion, and which ones he would be providing for them. Harry listened as he described the function of each individual ingredient in the potion, and he scribbled down his notes as Snape continued to talk. Then Snape began to describe how the ingredients react to each other, causing the potion to work properly. Harry wrote down the important information, as it was necessary for him to understand this type of potion, especially if he wanted to become an auror. When the bell ran, Harry and Hermione got up from their seats, and went off towards the Great Hall for lunch, where Ron was waiting for them.   
  
They sat down next to Ron, and ate a few sandwiches, and chatted with Ron, telling him about their class, while Ron told them about what he did while they were away. Harry told Ron about the piece of parchment Snape had dropped, and they agreed to look at it together back in the common room. After lunch, Hermione headed off towards the History of Magic classroom, while Harry and Ron went off towards the common room, ready to read the note that Snape had dropped.  
  
_Severus-  
  
Voldemort knows you are spying! You must get out of the circle for good! You must run away! I know I probably sound crazy by warning you, but I have grown to like you and I cannot bear to see you be tortured and killed by my leader. Get out now while you still can!_   
  
The note was not signed. Harry and Ron sat there, mouths open in terror. If Voldemort knew Snape was a traitor, then the Order would have nobody to spy on Voldemort's actions and find out what he is up to. They would have no way of finding out what Voldemort's plans were to kill off all non-purebloods, and more importantly, the only boy who could stop him. Harry Potter.   
  
Harry and Ron stared at the note, with faces of disbelief and true horror, before Harry finally took the note and shoved it in his pocket.  
  
"Make sure we tell Hermione! She'll really want to know this kind of thing," Harry told Ron.  
  
"You bet she would," Ron agreed. Harry went off towards the dormitory, wanting to get some rest before dinner. They showed Hermione the note after dinner was over, and then they went up to their dormitories to get some sleep, very tired after a very long day. 


	11. Chapter Eleven Novo Animus

Harry woke up on Tuesday, and did not want to go to school. He was not awake, and he was too tired to get out of bed. It was only when Ron dragged him out of his bed that he actually got up. They went down to the Great Hall for breakfast, where Hermione was waiting for them, already wide awake and ready for Charms. Harry ate his breakfast, which was not a lot, and only consisted of two pieces of toast. "You should really eat more than that!" he heard a voice from behind him say. He turned around and saw Lupin standing over him. "You really do sound like a father!" Harry exclaimed. "I'm serious Harry. You really need to eat more than that," Lupin said sincerely. "I'm not really hungry," Harry told him. "Well, fine! But don't come crawling to me when you feel sick!" Lupin retorted. "Okay, father," Harry replied. Harry looked at Ron, who's face was red with laughter. Harry and Hermione got up from the table and left for Charms class once they were done eating breakfast.   
  
They entered the Charms classroom where there were a few people in there, including the little squeaky professor, Professor Flitwick. "Today class, we will be continuing our discussion on the creation charm. Creo Insumo. You must remember to concentrate hard on the object you wish to create. I remember a few of you not creating the quill to the best of your ability, some of them not having a tip, some very small, some with holes in them, and some were very liquid-like. So, begin, and if you have not already shown me that you can do it, then you must show me by the end of the class. If my memory is correct, Harry Potter is the only one to show me," Professor Flitwick told the class. When the squeaky professor said Harry's name, everyone turned to look at him, which was one thing he seemed to get used to over all of his years at Hogwarts.  
  
They continued to practice the 'Creo Insumo' charm. Harry was trying to create a piece of Honeyduke's chocolate, as he was feeling very hungry at the time, and was in the mood for some chocolate. Hermione was sitting next to him working on perfecting her quill to show Professor Flitwick, pausing every once in a while to ask Harry a question about the spell, which was keeping Harry from creating his bar of chocolate. Finally, when Harry had had enough, he told her, "I'll talk to you once I'm done making my chocolate!" and turned the other way, trying once again to make the chocolate. Hermione continued looking at him with her jaw wide open in surprise. "He picks chocolate over helping his friend?" she thought to herself. "I'm sorry, I'm just really hungry," Harry told her. "I thought you weren't going to talk to me until you were finished," Hermione replied. "I know, but you sounded so upset when you said 'He picks chocolate over helping his friend?' And I thought I'd try to make you a little happier, rather than being very upset with me," Harry told her. "But, I didn't say that. I only thought that," Hermione told him, quite confused. "But then how did I hear it?" Harry asked her. "I'm not sure. Have you ever read someone's mind before?" Hermione replied. "Not that I know of," Harry told her. "Huh. That's very odd. You should pay attention and if this continues, definitely tell the headmaster at once," Hermione told him. This was just like Hermione. "Go tell Dumbledore!" Harry thought about all of the times he had heard Hermione tell him that. That seemed like her answer to everything.  
  
Now Harry knew the meaning behind the last words of the prophecy. About him having powers 'The Dark Lord knows not'. He had discovered some of those powers. Like his power of killing the dementors. And now he was reading people's minds. He was not sure whether he thought this was a good thing or a bad thing.  
  
Harry and Hermione left the classroom after the bell rang, and went to the Great Hall to find Ron there waiting for them. "Hey Ron," Harry said. "Hey Harry, how was Charms?" he asked. "Fine, I guess. Listen, this is really freaky. I read Hermione's mind. I knew what she was thinking," Harry told him. "What's the trick? I know you're just trying to trick me. There is no way you would have the power to read minds," Ron told him. Just then, Harry remembered. He had not told them about the prophecy. He was part glad that he hadn't told his friends, since he didn't want them to worry, but part of hi wanted to tell them, since he should be able to tell his friends everything that is going on.  
  
After eating lunch, they all went back to the common room. Harry told them that he was going to go see Professor Lupin about something, but in reality, he was actually going to go to his weekly visit to Cho in the hospital wing. He walked down the silent corridors, careful not to disturb any of the classes in progress. He walked into the hospital wing, and told Madame Pomfrey he wanted to see Cho. Madame Pomfrey looked at him sternly for a little while before giving him a simple 'ok', although he could tell she didn't really want to let him see Cho. He walked over to the hospital bed where she was lying, and looked at her pale body. The soul had been sucked out of her, and she lay there lifeless. Still and silent, with no real way of telling that she was actually alive. But then Harry remembered something. Wasn't there something that could help bring back the soul of a person. Something he had heard about in an Order meeting. Then he remembered. The Novo Animus.  
  
But where was the Novo Animus? If he was to use it, he had to find it first. But how was he going to find it? He couldn't exactly just ask Dumbledore where it was being held. Dumbledore would become too suspicious. And how did it work? He would have to find something in the library about it. He decided it was in his best interest to head over to the library's restricted section and try to find a book about the Novo Animus, so he could find out what exactly it was, and how it was used.   
  
He left the bedside of Cho, leaving the hospital wing, and heading towards the library. When he walked in, he saw one person in there. It didn't surprise him that the person was in there. Hermione was always there, and today was no exception. He walked over to the table she was sitting at. "Hey Hermione!" exclaimed Harry. "Oh, hey Harry!" she returned. "What are you here for?" he asked. "Umm...what does it look like?" she asked, pointing to a book she was reading. "Oh, well I guess it is kind of obvious. Okay, well I'm going to go find a book," he told her, heading off towards the restricted section. He walked down one of the dimly lit aisles, smelling the aroma of decaying wood, probably because the shelves were made of wood, and it looked as if there was water leaking from up ahead. He remembered the topics were in alphabetical order, and he walked over to about where the letter 'N' was located, looking specifically for a book on the Novo Animus. As he reached the shelves, he immediately saw a book that greatly interested. Novo Animus: The Item of Darkest Magic is what it read. He withdrew the book from the shelf, and wiped the dust off of the cover, revealing a brown leather cover, with N. Flammel written on the front, no doubt meaning Nicholas Flammel. Maybe the Novo Animus was yet another great invention of this man. He took the book back to a table by himself, and lifted the cover open, excited to learn its contents.  
  
He began to read the introduction. "Many wizards have had their try at creating a device to restore the soul of a person. Many have been semi-successful, others have been total failures. For instance, the Veil of Darkness, found in the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic, uses ancient magic to try to create a portal between the place where the dead go, and Earth. They were somewhat successful, as it works as a barrier from Earth to the place where the dead go, but you would not be able to cross back oer the barrier. The device you will be reading about in pages to come is the Novo Animus, a creation and a discovery of mine. It is also somewhat successful. It only works on restoring the soul of a human, but wil not help to restore the brain or heart, or anything else for that matter." Harry read the part about the veil over and over again. "Surely there was a way to cross back over. Voldemort tried to. He must know how, but his followers were not powerful enough," Harry thought.  
  
He read more of the book, trying to find out how it worked. He found a chapter that would greatly help him. "The Novo Animus is a very complex item, only able to be used during a certain ritual. During the ritual, you will need to summon the element of wind, and have in your possession the Novo Animus," the book read, "First you will summon the wind. Then you must point the Novo Animus at the body of the person who's soul you wish to ressurect. Following this, you must press and hold the ruby red button on the tip of the Novo Animus, while pointing it at the person, and saying, 'I push this button of ruby red, to restore the person in this bed. I wish to resurrect this soul, Restoring it is my goal. I want to help this body bound, This dead body I have found. Please help me restore this person, so their condition does not worsen.' If said with full heart, and correctly, you should see the shadow of the soul fly into the body. It will then take just a little while for the person to have their soul back." "Wow, that's pretty complex, I guess," Harry thought. He took the book, and put it back onto the shelf, leaving to go back to the common room. Hermione followed him when he left.  
  
They entered the common room and walked over to the sofa next to where Ron was sitting, working on what looked like Herbology homework. "Hey Ron," Harry said. "Hey Harry," Ron replied, looking up from his essay. Harry looked over to one of the other chairs and saw Stefanie Riddle staring at her with those icy cold steel-grey eyes. He looked away. He knew she was trying to read his mind, and knew she was a telepath, as she had told him that earlier that year. Harry and Ron begun to talk about the quidditch season, and before they knew it, dinner time had arrived. They headed down to the Great Hall and sat down at their normal spots.  
  
"Just one thing to say before we begin to eat," Dumbledore said, so that the whole Great Hall became silent. The third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out-of-bounds once again this year, as students must stay away if they want to continue to live a happy, peaceful life." "Wow! Once again, that corridor is off-limits! That's where the Sorceror's Stone was held five years ago! Remember Harry?" exclaimed Ron. "No, Ron. I don't remember. Thank you for helping me to remember," Harry said, very sarcastically. "Oh, your welcome," Ron said, laughing after realizing Harry wasn't being serious. Harry hurriedly ate his dinner, and wandered to Dumbledore's office afterwards for his Occlumency lesson.  
  
He entered the office, and looked around for Dumbledore. Dumbledore was not in the room, so Harry decided to look around and see if there was anything interesting. He saw Fawkes, and walked over to where he was. Harry began to stroke Fawkes on the wing when he heard Dumbledore's voice from behind him. "Are you ready Harry?" Dumbledore asked him. "Yes Headmaster," Harry said, trying to be polite. He saw Snape, who was looking extremely worried, probably because of the note Harry had read. Lupin was also there, smiling at him as always. "Okay, get into your position," Dumbledore instructed. Harry got ready for the sort of mind-torture that he was going to have to go through tonight.  
  
"Legilimens," Dumbledore spoke, pointing his wand at Harry's forehead. He felt a strange sensation. He could feel the wand, prodding at his head, trying to get through, but it was as if his head was rock solid. The 'wand' could not get through. He felt the sensation go away, and then heard Dumbledore's voice. "Wow Harry! You've made great improvement! I wasn't even able to get through that time! Let's try this one more time, to see if you can do it again," Dumbledore told him. Once again, he felt the same sensation. It was a little stronger this time. He figured Dumbledore was probably going to try harder now, like Voldemort would if he was trying to get inside Harry's head like he had last year with the Department of Mysteries. The sensation went away, and Dumbledore began to speak again. "Harry, I would like to congratulate you. You have made excellent progress, and I now consider you to be almost an expert in Occlumency, but you must not think that now you do not have to work as hard. For now, you must work even harder, as Voldemort will try harder to get into your head, like he did last year. I will talk to my assistants, and we will decide what to do next week. I have some ideas, but I'm not totally sure," Dumbledore told him, "You may go back to your common room now, Harry." "Okay," Harry replied. "Wow, that was quick," he thought to himself, "Does he really think I'm an expert?"  
  
Harry entered the common room to see Ron and Hermione sitting on the sofa, talking to each other. He saw them kiss, and immediately was grossed-out. He did not like to see his two best friends kiss. It was just a little bit weird to him. "Hey guys," Harry said, as he walked over to his friends. "Oh, hey Harry!" Hermione exclaimed. "That was a little short," Ron said. "I know, Dumbledore said I was doing very good, so he told me I could go early today," Harry told them. "Well that's good," Hermione replied. "I asked Hermione to the first Hogsmeade trip and she said 'yes'!" Ron whispered to him when Hermione turned around to grab one of her books. "Awesome!" Harry said, happy for his friend, "I'm going to go up to the dormitory and read a little bit more of this book I've been reading." "Alright Harry, I'll see you later when I come up," Ron told him. "See you tomorrow morning Harry!" exclaimed Hermione.  
  
Harry headed up the stairs and into the dormitory, where he grabbed "Magic Without the Wand", the book he had taken from the library a little while ago. He was still reading about Animagus Forms, and was learning a lot from the book. It would definitely become very useful. He was reading about having multiple forms, and how not many people can take multiple forms. He was also reading about how sometimes the creature's instincts will kick in while still in human form, and how sometimes the transformation is uncontrollable when the instincts kick in. He was deeply involved in reading the last of that section, having been reading for almost two straight hours, when Ron walked in. "You're still reading?" Ron asked him, with a puzzled look on his face. "Yeah, it's really interesting," Harry told him. "What book is it?" Ron asked. "Oh, just a book about Occlumency," Harry lied, not wanting his friend to know what he was really studying. "Oh, that's pretty cool," Ron said, "I'm getting to bed Harry. I'll see you tomorrow." "Okay, I better be getting to bed too. See you at breakfast Ron," Harry told his friend, as he laid back on his pillows and fell asleep.  
  
A/N~ Ahhhhhhh!!!! No more reviews????? Why aren't people reviewing my story????? 


	12. Chapter Twelve Trouble For Snape

The next day went by very quickly. Transfiguration was just like their last Transfigurations class. They were still working on learning the theory behind transfiguring a living creature into a different living creature. That night they had quidditch practice for the second time that week, and Harry was helping the two Beaters get the hang of guarding all three Chasers, and helping them get used to working with each other. Most of his team got along, and the team was doing fairly well at working together, but once in a while there would be a little argument, and Harry would have to step in to stop the argument. Harry had a good feeling about the team he was on that year, and felt that they had a very good chance at becoming the quidditch champions for that year. After quidditch practice, Harry had Astronomy class. They began working once again on mapping out the stars, and labeling them to the best of their ability. Professor Sinistra had described to them some of the stars that were very clear and visible that they should definitely be able to show on their maps.  
  
Thursday came, and Harry went to Defense Against the Dark Arts class, ready to work once again on the shielding spell. "Hello class," Lupin said, walking in the door with Tonks at his side, closing it as he entered. "Today we will continue our discussion of the shielding spell, Infragilis Contego," Lupin told them, "If you all remember how to perform it, then you may begin. If you have any questions, you may come see either me or Professor Tonks at our desks. When you think you know it well enough, come show one of us." Harry began working on perfecting the spell. He held up his wand and said out loud, "Infragilis Contego!" A yellow-orange stringy substance shot out of his wand. It engulfed him, closing him out from the rest of the world. He could not hear what people were saying, but he could see their mouths moving. He decided he did very well, and decided to go show Lupin.  
  
He walked over to Lupin's desk, and he felt all the eyes in the room turn to him, watching him intently as he intended to perform the shielding spell to the best of his ability. "Are you ready Harry?" Lupin asked. Harry nodded, and rose his wand, ready to perform the spell. "Infragilis Contego!" Harry shouted. The same yellow-orange stringy substance shot out of his wand very quickly, engulfing him in a sphere in just a matter of seconds. He was fully enclosed, and as usual, he could not hear a thing. Lupin signalled for him to stop, and Harry gladly did so, as it was draining the power out of him. "Wow Harry! That was very good!" Tonks congratulated him. He heard murmurs of excitement throughout the classroom. Apparently people were very amazed at what he could do. "That was excellent! You managed to do it very quickly too! That will be very helpful to you, I suspect, Harry," Lupin said to him. "Yeah, it probably will be helpful," Harry said, winking at his fellow Order member.  
  
The time spent that afternoon went be quickly. Harry and Ron just hung out in the common room and talked about things, like quidditch, and their classes. Harry was very excited because this was the night that he would find out what animagus forms he could take. He could not wait for his lesson that night. Hermione came back after her Arithmancy lesson, and joined in their conversation before heading down to dinner. They ate quickly, as they were very hungry, especially Harry. He had been hungry since performing that shield spell. It was as if the shield actually drained all of his energy, making him very hungry. After eating, Professor Dumbledore stood up to talk. "Ahem...I would like to remind those in third-year or above, that this weekend is the first Hogsmeade weekend! So you still have a little bit of time to get those permission slips signed if you haven't already. That is all," Dumbledore said, sipping from his goblet afterwards. Ron and Hermione walked back to the common room, and Harry made his way to the Transfiguration room to find out his animagi form.  
  
He entered his room and saw Lupin and Professor McGonagall sitting there by her desk in deep conversation about something. He could tell it was something serious. "Hello Professors," Harry said, acknowledging that he was there. It was as if the two professors had not seen him enter. "Hello Mr. Potter, please take a seat," Professor McGonagall said, very sternly. He took a seat in the front of the room, and waited for the professors to finish talking. "Okay Potter, are you ready to hear the results from the Magus paper?" Professor McGonagall asked him. "Yes professor," he replied. "This is very amazing, and I do not know how you have done it," Professor McGonagall said, looking at the aqua-blue paper she held in front of herself. "What is it?" Harry asked, now very excited. "Do not interrupt me, Potter," exclaimed Professor McGonagall, "You have two forms. This does not necessarily mean you will be able to transform into both, as it would take a lot of hard work and effort on your part." "The two forms you will be able to take, if you should choose to, are a stag, much like your father, and a phoenix, evidently the element of wind has chosen to help you. You will be able to control the element of wind, should you develop this power," Lupin told him, looking highly fascinated by the piece of parchment he now held in his hands. "Wow!" exclaimed Harry. Was it just a coincidence that he too would be able to transform into a stag, like his father? "You are truly James' son," Lupin said to him, smiling at the thought of James. Harry now began to feel a little saddened, as he had never really been able to find out what his dad was like, although he had heard many wonderful things from Sirius and Lupin. "If you could please calm down, Mr. Potter, we will begin talking once again about the theory of transforming into your animagi forms, and transforming back into your normal human state," Professor McGonagall told him. "And just when this was getting exciting, she begins another one of her lectures," Harry thought, he was bored once again. He had become excited about something, but Professor McGonagall had a thing for taking away excitement from him all of the time.  
  
He sat there listening to her for about an hour, just ranting on and on about the theory behind transformation. "This is sooo boring. More boring than listening to Professor Binns lecture about the goblin rebellions. And that is saying something," he thought to himself, a slight grin appearing on his face. "Mr. Potter, you may go back now, I think that is enough for tonight. Same time next week," Professor McGonagall told him. Harry gladly got up and left, walking back to the common room quickly, wanting to tell his friends all about his forms that he would be able to take.  
  
He entered the common room, and saw Ron and Hermione sitting on the sofa, talking about something. He walked over to them and sat down in a chair by the sofa. "Hey Harry! How was animagus class?" Hermione asked. "Very boring! You should be glad you're not doing it!" exclaimed Harry. "I would love to!" Hermione told him. "Well anyway, I found out what forms I will be able to take," Harry replied. "What are they?" Ron asked anxiously. "Well, I will be able to transform into two different animals. One is a stag, like my father. The other is a phoenix. I will be able to fly, instead of walk around. It's gonna be awesome when I finally learn how to transform!" Harry told his friends. "I can't wait to see you transform!" Hermione replied. "Well, I'm off to get to sleep. We have Care of Magical Creatures tomorrow with Grubbly-Plank, now that Hagrid went away," Harry told them. "Yeah, I should go too," Ron agreed. And with that, they all headed off to their dormitories to get some sleep.  
  
The next day was very boring for the trio, as they had to listen to Professor Grubbly-Plank lecture them for two hours straight on safely handling porgybesses. They listened to her tell them all about how they were very dangerous creatures, but managed to avoid telling them exactly what harmful things they were able to do. They found this very suspicious, and decided to look it up in the library after lunch. What they found was surprising. The porgybesses were very powerful, not only physically, but also mentally. They had the ability to read minds, and to heal people if they feel the need to. Harry thought that Voldemort would probably try to get help from some of these creatures, and use them during attacks, to wipe out a mob of defenseless muggles.  
  
Harry, Ron, and Hermione went back to the common room after researching, and began working on their homework, since they were going to have a busy weekend, with going to Hogsmeade and everything. Harry was working on his Potions essay, along with Hermione, and Ron was working on an essay for Care of Magical Creatures. They thought they wouldn't have homework at all that year in Care of Magical Creatures, like Hagrid had told them, but he had to go away, so it was now in the hands of Professor Grubbly-Plank. Harry did not like doing his homework, and sometimes wished he could just not do the homework, but knew that if he didn't, then he would be in really big trouble, especially if it was an essay for Snape.  
  
Harry finished up his essay for Snape, and began working on his Care of Magical Creatures essay, working with Ron, who was almost finished his. Hermione joined them on working on the Care of Magical Creatures essay once she was finished with Snape's essay. They headed down to the Great Hall once everyone was finished their homework, and sat near Ginny, who was talking to some of her friends. "Hey Ginny," Harry said, sitting down next to her. "Hey Harry!" Ginny said, looking over at him, "I was wondering if you wanted to go to Hogsmeade with me tomorrow." "WHAT? YOU CAN"T ASK HARRY OUT ON A DATE!" Ron exclaimed, spitting out his food. "I'd love to Ginny," Harry said very nicely, after shooting an angry glare at Ron. Ginny looked mad at Ron to. "Are you serious?" Ginny asked, a smile appearing on her face. "Of course!" Harry told her. "Oh my god! Thank you Harry!" Ginny replied, hugging him. Ron shot him an angry look, in which Harry replied by sticking out his tongue.  
  
They began eating, and for once Ron didn't eat a lot. It was probably just because of the fact that his sister was going to Hogsmeade with his best friend the next day. "I should be able to do whatever I want. Ron can't tell me what to do," he heard Ginny say. "That's right," Harry replied. "What's right?" Ginny asked, confused. "You just said that you should be able to do whatever you want, and that Ron can't tell you what to do," Harry told her. "No I didn't. I thought that, but I didn't say it," Ginny said, looking at him very weird, "Are you okay?" "Yeah, yeah, I'm okay. I'm going to go see Lupin," Harry told her. He got up from his seat at the table, and took off for Lupin's room. He knew Lupin would know what to do. He always did. Harry had full confidence in Lupin, and knew that Lupin would be there to help him through this thing he was going through. He didn't know why he could read people's minds, but he did know that this was just the prophecy coming true, and that it was his destiny to develop such powers that Voldemort would not be able to counter.  
  
He entered Lupin's office, and saw him sitting at his desk reading some essays, no doubt written by his students. "Oh, hello Harry. What's wrong?" he asked, seeing the expression of fear on Harry's face. "I don't know. It's just that lately I've been able to hear what people are thinking sometimes, and I'm really freaked out by it," Harry told him. "Harry, you need to tell Dumbledore," Lupin replied. "Why do I have to tell Dumbledore everything that happens in my life?" Harry asked him, getting very angry. "Because Harry, he is in charge of the Order, and he is possibly the most intelligent wizard out in the world today. He will know what to do. That is why we must tell him," Lupin told him. "Let me get some time to thing about it first before I go and tell Dumbledore. I'll decide by the next Order meeting," Harry told Lupin, walking out the door.  
  
He headed off towards the common room, and saw Snape around the corner talking to someone. "Severus, watch out! Voldemort is very angry!" the other figure was saying. Harry couldn't make out who it was, but he could see the person was in a dark black hooded cloak. He knew who wore those types of cloaks. This person was without a doubt a death eater. He began listening to the conversation again. "It's okay. I'm safe here at Hogwarts," Severus told the other person. "No, you are not safe. And neither is Potter. Voldemort is planning an invasion on Hogwarts. You need to warn Dumbledore," the figure said. Harry saw Snape's face go pale white. "An invasion?" Snape asked the other person, "What kind of invasion?" "Well, he wants to send in forces to take out both you and Potter," the figure said. "Oh no," he heard Snape mumble, very softly. Harry's scar began to burn, and he heard laughing. Before he knew it, all three people, Snape, the hooded figure, and Harry, were surrounded by death eaters, who were closing in on them with their wands raised.  
  
"Well, well, if it isn't Mr. Potter," one of them said. Harry did not recognize the voice. "And his backstabbing traitor of a friend," the voice continued. "Snape is not my friend!" Harry thought to himself. "Master told us not to kill him," he heard a voice. But nobody was talking. Harry knew that this was just what one of them was thinking. He decided to keep to himself, not wanting to give anything away. He heard someone else think about shooting out metal binds to constrict him. "Conglutino!" that voice yelled. Harry knew it was coming, so he could easily dodge the metal binds that had shot out of the wand. "It seems that Mr. Potter is getting better at this kind of thing," the figure said. Harry looked behind them, and saw a crowd of people walking, wearing masks. He did not know who these people were, and he wasn't sure who's side they were on. "Crucio!" one of the death eaters said. Snape fell to the ground. It was the most horrible sight he had ever seen. Snape had fallen to the ground, and blood was dripping from his ears. Snape was screaming in pain, and he looked as if he was ready to die. One of the masked men shouted, "Stupefy!" and a red jolt of light hit the death eater who had been hurting Snape. The person who was talking to Snape earlier, took Snape away, heading towards the hospital wing. Harry knew that these masked men were on his side now. "Stupefy!" Harry yelled, pointing his wand at one of the death eaters. The figure fell down. The death eaters were not fighting very well, and a few chose to apparate somewhere. Dumbledore strode into the mix of fighting, and took out one of the death eaters with a swish of his wand. Dumbledore took Harry, and led him away, Harry causing a death eater to be stunned on their way out. Dumbledore took Harry to the hospital wing, where Harry laid in a bed near Snape, who was still shaking violently, and screaming in pain. He saw Cho lying next to him and remembered his plan to bring her back. He knew he had to. 


	13. Chapter Thirteen Hermione's Secret

Just a few moments later, he was given some medicine, which knocked him out, and he had another vision. Voldemort was once again in the same dimly lit chamber, with only Nagini slithering by his feet. "So, Severus Snape, and Antonin Dolohav are turning their backs on me? Severus seems to have learned his lesson, but Dolohav needs to be taught as well. And it seems as though Harry Potter has escaped my men once again. I guess next time I'll have to go after him myself," Voldemort was saying. Then Harry woke up. Madame Pomfrey was trying to comfort him, and Snape was now shaking even more violently, with Dumbledore standing over him.   
  
"What's wrong with him, professor?" Harry asked Dumbledore. "Well, it seems as though two people had used the Cruciatus Curse, and when two people administer such a curse at the same time, the body of the victim is no longer in control of the victim. It is not really controlled by anything," Dumbledore told him. "I don't understand," Harry admitted to the headmaster. "Well Harry, let me put it this way. Two death eaters put the Cruciatus Curse on Severus at the same time. Since there was two curses, the effect was doubled, and the outcome was twice as worse," Dumbledore said, simplifying his earlier statement. "Well, I guess that's a little bit easier to understand," Harry replied. "Well, I shall be off now. Please come to my office tonight at nine o'clock," Dumbledore told him. Harry felt a tingle on his arm, where the Order mark was, and Harry knew that there was an Order meeting tonight at nine. "Okay, I'll see you then Professor," Harry said.  
  
He watched as Dumbledore strode out the double doors, and out into the corridor. He laid back, and fell asleep immediately. He didn't wake up until dinner that night. He headed down to the Great Hall, where Ron and Hermione were sitting, waiting for him to arrive. Hermione grabbed him, and pulled him into a hug. "Oh Harry! I was so worried about you when I heard what had happened!" Hermione exclaimed. "Glad you're okay, mate," Ron said, giving him a nice firm handshake. "Yeah, so am I," Harry replied, with a little trace of a laugh in his voice. "So, tell us Harry, what exactly happened?" Ron asked. "Well, I was walking back from Lupin's office, and I saw Snape talking to some hooded figure, which I later found was Antonin Dolohav. I was listening to Dolohav warn Snape about Voldemort's plans to attack him. Dolohav must've been the informant who sent the note to Snape earlier. Then about eight death eaters appeared out of thin air, and circled all three of us. I could tell one of them was going to attack me, I read their mind. So I could easily dodge it. But then some masked men came and attacked the death eaters, and I was saved. I'm pretty sure they were Order members. And Snape is in the hospital wing, going insane, since two people put the Cruciatus Curse on him at the same time," Harry told them, speaking very quickly. "Wow!" Ron exclaimed. "That's really serious Harry! Snape could die!" Hermione told him, looking very worried. "I know. Dumbledore told me. Snape was lying in his hospital bed, shaking very violently, and I asked Dumbledore what was wrong, so he told me," Harry replied. "Oh, I do hope he's alright!" Hermione exclaimed, rather passionately. Ron and Harry both looked at her weird, as she was acting very strangely about Snape being hurt like that. Harry hurriedly ate his dinner and after everyone was done, Dumbledore stood up to make a speech, and Harry knew exactly what it was going to be about.  
  
"Our school was attacked today by a number of death eaters, and Harry Potter was affected by this attack, along with the Potions professor, Professor Snape. Professor Snape is not doing very well right now, so keep him in your mind, and hope he becomes better. He will not be able to teach Potions for the time being, so you will have a subsitute professor for right now. That will be me, your Headmaster," Dumbledore began. "Wow! Dumbledore is going to teach us potions!" Harry exclaimed. "Harry, that's nothing to be happy about! Snape could be hurt so bad, he would never be able to teach again!" Hermione replied. "What is it with you and Snape? Don't tell me you have something for a teacher!" exclaimed Ron. "Eww! Ron, thats gross! He's like thirty years older than me!" Hermione returned. "Well, by the way you're acting, it seems like that just a little," Ron told her. "You're so immature," Hermione said. She got up and rushed off towards the common room, leaving Harry and Ron staring after her in amazement. Harry and Ron just shrugged it off, and began eating their dessert.  
  
After eating their dessert, they went back to the common room, but didn't see Hermione in the common room studying like she always was. Harry and Ron looked around for her, but didn't find her at all, they shrugged it off and sat down on the sofa by the fire. "I hope she's alright by tomorrow," Ron told him. "I'm sure she'll come around. I think she's hiding something. Something she really doesn't want us to know. We just have to let her know that we care about her, and want to know what's going on," Harry replied. "Well, that does make sense. Maybe she will come around. She always seems to," Ron said. "Well, I'm going to go read some of this book I have, I'll talk to you later Ron," Harry told him. Harry walked up the steps to his dormitory and sat on his bed. He drew the dusty old book from underneath his bed. "Elemental Magic," Harry thought, "Sounds interesting." He began reading the book, starting the new section, one about elemental magic. He remembered reading something in the book about the Novo Animus about needing to summon the element of wind in order to complete the ritual to restore a person's soul, and he knew that this book would tell him how to summon the element of wind.  
  
First, the book began to tell about the different elements. "Fire, wind, water, earth, and lightning are the five most common elements that are more easily summoned by a witch or wizard. There are a few others, but they are too difficult to explain, and will not be included in this book. The five elements mentioned, are easier than those not mentioned, but they are still very difficult to summon," the book read. "Hmm, it doesn't sound too difficult, how hard can it be?" Harry asked himself, "I'm sure I can summon lightning very easily," he thought, remembering how he had the mark of lightning upon his forehead, a constant reminder of the prophecy. "The elements can only be summoned by someone who is in great need of the element. The elements will not always be needed, but the summoner will know when the element is needed, thus granting them the power to take control of the element. The only true way of taking control of an element is to concentrate very hard on your goal, and on the element. Then follow this by pointing your wand straight, and concentrating even harder. If this makes sense to you, then you will know how to control the elements, and use them to the best of your ability," the book proceeded to say. "That's pretty confusing," Harry thought. He continued reading the book until he had become very tired, and decided to put it away, after reading about fire, water, and earth.  
  
He laid back onto his bed and closed his eyes. He was very tired, and was ready to go to sleep. He fell asleep within a few minutes, and began dreaming about Cho as soon as he did. He thought about what it would be like to have her back, to make things right. But then he would remember he was supposed to go to Hogsmeade with Ginny. Did he really like his best friend's sister? Or was he just trying to be nice to her? Harry didn't know how he felt about either girl, Ginny or Cho. All he knew was that he would have to save Cho, to bring her back to life. He woke up in the middle of the night, shot straight up into a sitting position, and felt himself sweating like a pig. He got up from his bed and walked into the bathroom, where he washed his face, and got a drink of cold water. He went back to his dormitory and tried once again to fall asleep. This time however, he did not dream about Cho or Ginny. He dreamt he was walking down the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side of the castle. He entered the room where he had once seen the three-headed dog, and once again, the dog was there. He played a little bit of music on a flute, and the dog seemed to fall asleep. He went through the trap door, and landed with a thud. There sitting right in front of him was a long thin instrument made of gold. It had a ruby-red button on one end, and a small hole at the other end. All along the object, there were ancient symbols, which he couldn't read. He knew what the object was. It was the Novo Animus.   
  
He awoke with a startle. Ron was shaking him, trying to get him out of bed. "What do you want?" Harry asked him. "Well, you were talking in your sleep again. I thought maybe something was wrong," Ron told him. "No, Ron, nothing is wrong," Harry replied. "Well, it's time to get up anyway. Breakfast is starting," Ron told him. "Well, alright, I'll get up," Harry said. He got out of his bed, and threw on some clothes, and his Hogwarts robes. He slipped on some shoes, and walked down the dormitory steps with Ron, and into the common room, where Hermione was sitting, reading a book. "Hey Hermione," Harry said to her, very softly. He wasn't sure if she had calmed down since the previous night. "Hey Harry," she replied, not looking at him. "Look, Hermione, I'm sorry about last night. And I wish that you could forgive us," Harry said to her, very calmly. "Well, I guess I can forgive you," she returned. "Is there anything you want to tell us?" Ron asked her. "I guess I could tell," she said, putting her book down. "What is it?" Ron asked, very eager to learn Hermione's secret. "Well, Snape is my uncle," she said to the two boys, looking very seriously. "WHAT?" they yelled out. "That's unbelievable!" Ron shouted out.  
  
"When did you find this out?" Harry asked her, still shocked. "Over the summer. My aunt told me. She came over for dinner one night, and told me she had something important to tell me. She told me that Severus Snape is my uncle, and that she had been hiding the fact that she was married from my parents. That's when I found out that my aunt was a witch too.," Hermione answered. "Whoa, that's creepy," Harry replied. "Yeah, I don't know what I'd do if I found out that I was related to Snape," Ron added in. "It's not that bad," Hermione told them. "Well, I'm getting hungry, so let's go get some breakfast," Ron said to Harry and Hermione. Hermione just rolled her eyes, and began walking down to the Great Hall with her two best friends.   
  
They sat down in their normal seats at the table, and Ginny sat next to Harry when she got there. "Hey Harry," Ginny said. "Oh, hey Ginny," Harry replied. "Ready for today?" she asked him, a large smile on her face. "Of course! Are you?" he answered. "Yep! We're gonna have a lot of fun!" she replied. She sounded like a giddy little school girl. They all began eating breakfast, and when they were finished, they headed back to the common room to grab a few things before heading off to a day in Hogsmeade. Harry and Ron went into their dormitory, and each grabbed their money bags, before heading back down to the common room. They stood there, awaiting Hermione and Ginny. When the two girls arrived, they left the common room, heading for the Entrance Hall.  
  
They reached the Entrance Hall, and exited the school building, after Filch had checked to make sure they were all eligible to go into Hogsmeade. They all entered the marvelous town of Hogsmeade, ready to do a little bit of shopping, and to have some fun. Harry and Ginny went one way, Hermione and Ron heading in a different direction. Harry and Ginny's first stop was Zonko's Joke Shop. They wanted to grab a few things that would really make Filch angry.  
  
They entered the shop and saw Fred and George talking to Mr. Zonko. The twins looked very angry, and they were holding something which looked like Skiving Snackboxes in their hands. Harry and Ginny walked a little closer to the twins, wanting to know what was going on. "You stole our material!" Fred was yelling. "It was my idea first!" Mr. Zonko shouted back. "No it wasn't!" George retaliated. "It was!" Mr. Zonko replied. "I do believe it wasn't your idea first, Mr. Zonko," Harry interjected. "Harry!" Fred said, a grin appearing on his face. "Mr. Potter? Do you know what you are talking about?" Mr. Zonko asked him. "Yes, of course I do. I am the one who paid for their research! I do know, in fact, that these two young boys are the inventors of the Skiving Snackbox!" Harry replied, now as red as the twins. "Well, well, we'll just have to see what the Wizard's Court has to say about that," Mr. Zonko replied, "Now, if you would kindly leave my store before I call someone in to force you out." Harry and the twins exited the store, along with Ginny.   
  
"How dare he!" Harry yelled out. "He stole our idea!" Fred agreed. "Don't worry, he won't get away with it," Ginny said, very calmly. "And how do you know?" George asked. "Well, it just so seems that now he does not have his instructions on how to make them," she replied, with a devil-like smile on her face. "What do you mean?" Harry asked her. She took out a piece of paper from her pocket. She had stolen Mr. Zonko's 'recipe' for the Skiving Snackbox. "Brilliant! Just bloody brilliant!" Fred shouted out, pulling his sister into a great big hug. "Come on sis, and Harry, let's go get something to eat," George said. They all headed off to the Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer and something to eat.  
  
Ginny and Harry had a marvelous time in Hogsmeade that day, shopping and talking about things. They ran into Ron and Hermione, who both looked like they were having a good time as well. It seemed as though a trip to Hogsmeade with Ginny was just what he needed to cheer him up. 


	14. Chapter Fourteen Voldemort at Hogwarts

That following week of school went by quicker than ever before. Classes sped by, and so did time between classes. He did not do much during his next Occlumency lesson, except practice a little bit more, and during Animagi lessons, he just started researching his forms, to find out the characteristics of the animal. Quidditch practices were fine. The team was progressing well, getting ready for their first quidditch match of the season. Before Harry knew it, the weekend was there, and he did not have any classes. He was happy that he didn't have to go to classes, and once again neither Hagrid, or Snape, were there to teach. Hagrid was off trying to get the giants, and Snape was lying in a hospital bed, slowly dying, unless there was a way to help him.   
  
That Saturday, he went to see Cho. He entered the hospital wing, and walked over to her bed. She was still lying there, her body had not moved an inch. Snape was lying two beds away, his eyes closed, and his body still. He felt a cold hand on his shoulder, and he jumped, turning around to see Madame Pomfrey. "No need to jump. Tis only I," she told him. Harry acknowledged her before asking, "Is she going to be alright? Please tell me you have good news." "Well, Mr. Potter, we have no new news, although Professor Dumbledore does believe that she does not have much more time. "Alright, I guess I should be going though," Harry said, feeling very depressed. He truly believed that it was his fault she was in the hospital bed. It was he that the dementors were after, and she got in the way. But Harry had a plan. He knew how to help her, and he was going to help her that next day.   
  
Saturday night, he could not go to sleep. He kept waking up in the middle of the night, not able to sleep peacefully. The tiniest noise would wake him up, and Ron's snores were not doing him any favors. He finally just decided to get it over with, and go retrieve the Novo Animus, in hopes of bringing back Cho.   
  
He walked along the school corridors, with his invisibility cloak thrown over him, and reached the third floor corridor on the right hand side. The door was locked, so he had to use the knife Sirius had once given him. He entered, and saw Fluffy, the three-headed dog, guarding the trap door. He remembered suddenly that he needed something to play music. "Creo Insumo!" he said, thinking about a harp. The harp was created, and sat right in front of him. Harry started to play some music, and the dog fell asleep at once, leaving Harry free to go down the trap door. He went down, landing with a thump on the ground below, and he saw at once the object he wished to find.   
  
There it was, sitting right in front of him, the Novo Animus. It's golden beauty, with it's ancient markings all over it, and the ruby red button on the tip of the instrument. He walked forward towards it, when a cold hand grabbed him on the shoulder. He could see the long, pale fingers, and he could feel his scar start to sizzle. When he turned around, he saw Voldemort staring at him, with those piercing eyes, and the long black robe, his wand in his pocket. Harry quickly lunged forward and grabbed the Novo Animus, so Voldmort could not. "Expelliarmus!" Voldemort shouted out loud. Harry's wand flew out, and Voldemort caught it. "Give it to me!" Voldemort instructed. "No!" Harry shouted. "I said give it!" Voldemort yelled. Harry felt his scar burn even more. He knew Voldemort was mad.  
  
"I will never give it up!" Harry screamed. "Oh, yes you will! Crucio!" Voldemort yelled pointing Harry's wand at its owner. But the wand would not work. "Crucio!" he shouted once more, but yet again, the wand would not work against its owner. Voldemort pulled out his own wand, and tried again. "Crucio!" he shouted once more. Even his own wand would not work. Harry knew why it would not. He had been pointing the Novo Animus at Voldemort, and his finger was pushing the ruby button on the tip of it. "You think you can defeat me?" Harry asked him, gaining some courage. Voldemort laughed a little, with his fake smile. "Then let's fight like men. Give me my wand. We'll fight even," Harry told him. "You think I'm stupid, you fool? You think I don't remember the last time? I know our wands don't work against each other," Voldemort said. "Ahhh, but our's do," someone said from behind. Harry saw in the shadows of the room, Stefanie emerge.   
  
"What do you want?" Harry asked her. "You know who I am," Stefanie replied, "Father, let us duel. Give him his wand." "If you must," Voldemort replied. He threw Harry's wand back to its owner. "Serpensiorta!" Stefanie shouted out. A snake appeared. "Conficio Anguis!" Harry retaliated. The snake burnt up and turned into ashes. "Expelliarmus!" he yelled out. Stefanie's wand flew to him and he caught it in his hand. "Conglutino!" he shouted. Thick metal binds flew out of his wand, and wrapped around Stefanie, causing her to scream. "Release her now!" Voldemort ordered.   
  
"No Harry! You don't have to," a voice said. Harry looked, and saw Dumbledore emerge from the darkness, with his half-moon spectacles, looking very angry. "Now, now, Tom, you have gotten away from me too many times, and I don't plan on having it happen again," Dumbledore said, very calmly. "Well, you're wrong!" Voldemort said, and with a wisp of his cloak, he was gone, and so was Stefanie. "Harry, come with me, we need to have a chat," Dumbledore told him. Harry followed Dumbledore to his office, where the portraits were fast asleep, along with everyone else in the building.   
  
"Harry, you need to keep using Occlumency. Voldemort could have easily killed you tonight. He obviously used legilimency to get into your mind, and try to lure you to a certain place. You must ignore any dream you have, and try to block them out all together. Do you understand what I am getting at?" Dumbledore asked him, as soon as they sat down at his desk. "Yes, I understand," Harry replied. "Okay Harry, just one more thing. Why didn't you come to the Order meeting last week?" Dumbledore asked him. "I don't know professor, I guess it just kind of slipped my mind," Harry said. He had totally forgot about the Order meeting last weekend. "Well, I think you need to go get some rest," Dumbledore told him. "Yes, I'll see you tomorrow," Harry replied, strolling out of the office.   
  
He did not go back to the common room. Instead, he headed off to the hospital wing. Dumbledore did not ask him about the Novo Animus, and Harry didn't tell him that he had it in the pocket of his cloak. He took a piece of paper out of his pocket, which had the words for using the Novo Animus on it. He walked into the hospital wing, and Madame Pomfrey, thankfully, was nowhere in sight. Harry walked over to the bed where Cho was lying, and stood to the side of it. "Everything's going to be alright, Cho," Harry said to the lifeless body of the Ravenclaw Seeker. He took a few steps backwards, and pulled out the Novo Animus, ready to perform the restoration of her soul.   
  
He pointed the Novo Animus at Cho's body, and concentrated very hard on wind. He could feel a breeze blow by, and knew that he had now taken control of the element of wind. While holding down the ruby red button, he clearly stated, "I push this button of ruby red, to restore the person in this bed. I wish to resurrect this soul, Restoring it is my goal. I want to help this body bound, This dead body I have found. Please help me restore this person, so their condition does not worsen." He opened his eyes, and saw something magical. He saw the wind carrying what looked like a ghost of Cho, which was not doubt her soul, and saw the 'ghost' take a head-first dive at the lifeless body of Cho Chang. Cho immediately took a long deep breath, sitting up very quickly, and fell back down on the bed. Harry knew that he had done it correctly.  
  
He exited the room, wanting to get back to the common room before he got caught, but did not know what he should do with the Novo Animus. Should he keep it? Or should he put it back where he found it? He ultimately decided it was best to put it back. But he was going to do that later that day after   
  
getting some rest. He walked into the common room after giving the Fat Lady the password. He headed into his dormitory for what seemed like the millionth time that day, climbing the steps, and entering the room. He saw Ron roll over, and start snoring again. Harry just rolled his eyes and walked over to his bed. He put the Novo Animus inside his trunk, and laid down on his bed. Only a few minutes later, he fell asleep.   
  
He awoke later that day, Ron shaking him violently, trying to wake him up. He got out of the bed, and grabbed his wand from the table beside his bed. He put that in his pocket. He took the Novo Animus out of his trunk, and shoved it in one of the pockets on the inside of his cloak, concealing it from everyone else. The trio headed down to the Great Hall for some breakfast, where the rest of the school had already begun to eat their breakfast. He looked up at the front table, and saw Dumbledore looking at him suspiciously. Harry supposed he had found out about Cho. He didn't think Dumbledore knew how Cho's soul had been restored, but he knew Dumbledore was aware of the fact that the soul had been restored. Harry continued to eat his breakfast with his friends. Ron was almost completely finished his, Harry had barely taken a bite.   
  
After finishing his breakfast, Harry got up from the table. "I have to go do something. I'll meet you back in the common room in about a half an hour," Harry told them. He left the Great Hall, and went up to the third floor, heading towards where Fluffy was. He entered the doors, and saw the harp still sitting there. He played a little tune, just so the three-headed dog wouldn't wake up, and went down the trap door once more. He place the Novo Animus on the stand where it had been the night before, and quickly left, not wanting to be anywhere near that place, ever since what had happened earlier that morning. He headed back to the common room like he had told his friends. He really wanted to get some rest.  
  
He entered the common room and saw his friends sitting there, waiting for him. "Hey guys," he said, walking over to where his friends were. "Oh, hey Harry," they replied. Harry took a seat next to them. "So, where did you go?" Hermione asked. "Oh, just to go see Lupin," Harry lied. He had been keeping so much a secret from his friends this year, unlike the past five years, when he had told his friends everything. He read Hermione's mind once again, and knew that she doubted that was where he was. He still wasn't sure if he enjoyed his new power of being able to read people's minds. It was still a little bit weird to him, although it had come in handy when he had been attacked by death eaters.  
  
The trio headed outside, onto the grounds, talking about things. "Stefanie Riddle won't be going here anymore. So we're going to have to find a new Beater. I guess Dean will have to be the new Beater, since he was third during try-outs," Harry told them. "Yeah, I guess it will have to be Dean. Although he isn't the greatest, he would be our best pick," Ron admitted. "Alright, we'll have to go talk to him. See you later Mione! Don't get yourself into any trouble!" Harry yelled to her, laughing, and running with Ron back to the castle.  
  
They entered the castle, and walked down the corridors until they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Patronus," Harry said, and the portrait flung open. The two boys walked into the common room, and saw Dean sitting in a chair next to Seamus and Parvati, working on what appeared to be an essay for Defence Against the Dark Arts. "Dean, come here, we need to talk to you," Harry called over to him. Dean got up and walked over to Harry and Ron, with a puzzled look on his face. "What?" he asked very inquisitively. "Well, Stefanie won't be attending this school anymore. So, we're going to need a new Beater for the quidditch team. We just wanted to know if you still wanted to be on the team," Harry told him. "Are you kidding? I'd love to!" Dean replied, "Thanks Harry!" "Not a problem," Harry told him. Dean went back to Parvati and Seamus. Harry heard Dean telling the good news. Seamus seemed very happy for him, but Parvati didn't seem to happy. Harry knew this was probably because she wanted the place as new Beater.  
  
They spent the rest of the day hanging out in the common room, Hermione eventually joining them. They finished up all of their homework that day, and still had a little bit of time left to hang around before dinner. When they did go to dinner, they had a surprise waiting them. They entered the Great Hall, and the Great Hall was decorated so beautifully. It was virtually indescribable. Harry had never seen such a sight. The Great Hall was decorated in the colors of Ravenclaw, and Harry knew exactly why. He saw Dumbledore up front tap his glass with his fork, signalling that he wanted the school's attention. "Ahem. I would just like to say that I have some very exciting news for all of you. Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw seventh year, has now been revived. She is still in the hospital wing, but she is awake, and doing better. She will still be in there for at least a week, under supervision of Madame Pomfrey, but we are just excited that she is doing well," Dumbledore told the school. There was a great round of applause, especially from the Ravenclaws. Harry could see the Ravenclaw quidditch team, who was looking very excited about their Seeker doing well. Harry was also very happy that Cho was alright. After all, he was the one who brought her back.  
  
The trio ate dinner that night in silence. They ate quickly, as all of them were very hungry, especially Harry. The three of them were very busy thinking about how Cho had miraculously been saved, and none of them said a word. Harry was amazed at how quiet everyone was being. Everyone except the Slytherins were extremely happy out the news. When conversation did break out at the Gryffindor table, the topic wasn't on anything except the quidditch team. Harry kept hearing things like, "So, Dean, I hear you're the new Beater," and, "I wonder what happened to Stefanie!" Nobody except Harry and Dumbledore knew about what had happened with Stefanie and Voldemort very early that morning.  
  
After dinner, they all went back to the common room, and began a discussion on Voldemort. Harry did not bring up what had happened earlier that morning. They eventually went to sleep, as they had to go to classes that next morning, and Harry was very curious to find out if Snape was going to be back teaching Potions. He didn't know how well Snape was doing, and ever since finding out Hermione's secret, he had really felt bad for Snape being in the condition he was, as Snape was one of his best friend's uncle.  
  
The next day was a very strange one for Harry. Especially having Dumbledore as a Potions teacher. Snape was not there once again, but Dumbledore told them that Snape would be back the next week to teach them. During the class, they continued learning as if Snape was there. Dumbledore seemed to be very proficient in every subject. Harry now understood even better, why Dumbledore was a 'hero' to many witches and wizards. Harry took notes on Veritaserum, and Dumbledore told them that next week when Snape was back, they would be ready to actually perform the potion, and try to make it.  
  
Dinner was also very weird, as they served some very weird food, that Harry had not eaten before. Dumbledore stood up at the beginning of the meal, and began to speak, "Professor Grubbly-Plank will no longer be able to fulfill her duties, as she has decided of her own free will to leave the school, for personal reasons, which I am unable to discuss. I would like to announce your new Care of Magical Creatures teacher, until Hagrid is able to return, Professor Krum." A man stood up next to Dumbledore, and Harry saw that it was none other than Viktor Krum. That was why they were eating this weird food. It was to welcome someone from a foreign country to come teach them. Harry was not too happy about Krum teaching them, and Ron looked rather angry when he had seen Krum. Hermione, however, looked very excited when she saw Krum, as they had once 'dated'.  
  
After dinner, Harry overheard a three-way conversation between Krum, Ron, and Hermione. This just added more things to Harry's list of weird things that had happened that day. Krum and Ron were fighting over Hermione, and Hermione was just laughing at the two of them, and wound up running off afterwards, with tears in her eyes. Harry and Ron grabbed their brooms, and headed off to quidditch practice. The first one with Dean as the other Beater. Dean did pretty well for his first time, but the team now had to get readjusted, to incorporate the new Beater, and the team still needed to get used to the new Beater, which wouldn't be an easy task, especially for Seamus.  
  
A/N~ Thank you to everyone who reviewed. Here are the answers to some questions you have had:  
  
Jeff~ Sorry I don't paragraph correctly, I'm just not a big fan of doing it, but maybe one of these days I'll get into a habit of doing it.....  
  
Perverted monk Miroku~ Wow, what a strange name...lol Anyway, Ginny was a replacement for Harry when Harry got kicked off, however, when Umbridge left, so did Harry's ban from quidditch, so he became the new Seeker. Therefore, Ginny is no longer on the team, and has to try out once again. 


	15. Chapter Fifteen The Forgotten Prophecy

The week went by as usual, nothing else being weird about the week. No new teachers, no weird substitute teachers, no new quidditch players, everything was just how it normally was for Harry. Lots of homework to do, and the same crabby teachers just piling more and more work on him. But there was one exception to that normal week. Friday. They had Viktor Krum as a teacher for Care of Magical Creatures, as announced on Monday. They still didn't know why Professor Grubbly-Plank had left, and the trio was determined to find out. They knew that Krum would most likely know, so they decided to ask him when they got to class.  
  
"Is tis all vat we have?" he asked. "Ummmm....yeah," Harry replied. "Dis is kind of veird, don't ya tink so?" Krum said to them, laughing a little. "Yeah, I guess so, hey, we have a question for you," Ron told him. "Vat is it?" Krum asked them. "Well, it seems as though Professor Grubbly-Plank has left us. Why is that?" Harry asked him. "I don't know vat you are talking about," he replied. "Viktor, please tell us," Hermione said in a very sweet voice. Harry could see Krum's face turning red as she spoke. "Vell, I guess it couldn't hurt much," he admitted, "Vell, Grubbly-Plank vas attacked by some kind of vild animal. Dumbledore did not tink it vas best for her to teach dis class if she could not handle vat animal." "Oh, well that seems pretty reasonable," Ron admitted.  
  
The class went on as normal. Harry did admit to himself that having Krum as a teacher was very weird, and Harry could not wait for Hagrid to return. Hagrid was a much better teacher, and much more interesting, as he would teach them about more interesting animals, and much more dangerous animals, which proved to be very helpful to Harry. After the class, the trio headed off towards the Great Hall for lunch after listening to Krum talk for about an hour, with his strange accent which annoyed Ron very much. The three friends ate their lunches together, speaking occasionally about things going on in the world, and Harry began to feel a sudden burn on his left shoulder. It was the mark of the Order, and Harry knew there would be an Order meeting. He reminded himself that he mustn't miss this next meeting like he had the last one.  
  
That night he headed off for Dumbledore's office for the Order meeting. He opened the door to Dumbledore's office, and walked inside to see Kingsley, Moody, Tonks, Lupin, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Snape, and a few others sitting in the room already. "Hello Harry!" Mr. Weasley greeted him. "Oh, Harry!" Mrs. Weasley said, grabbing him and pulling him into a giant, motherly hug. "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Weasley!" Harry replied. He took a seat next to Lupin and Tonks, who were laughing about something Lupin had just said. "Oh, brother," Harry murmured, looking at the way Lupin and Tonks were laughing together, holding hands. "Man, I sound like that Charlie Brown character my aunt and uncle used to talk about," he thought to himself. That was the one thing he would miss about his aunt and uncle. Their knowledge of the muggle world. They were very intelligent and knew a lot about everything that went on within the muggle realm.  
  
"Okay, this meeting of the Order of the Phoenix shall begin now," Dumbledore told the group. Everyone became silent at once, and listened as Dumbledore spoke. "Something rather important occurred last Sunday morning, which I have finally decided to let you all know. But I think it will be best for Harry Potter to tell us the story, since he was there for the whole ordeal," Dumbledore continued. Harry stood up, and began to tell the story of what had happened the last Sunday. He did fail to mention a few details, like him using the Novo Animus, or even touching the Novo Animus, however, not wanting to get into any trouble. "Okay, Harry, you may sit down. Kingsley, do you have any information regarding the break-in at Gringotts a while ago?" Dumbledore asked. "Yes Dumbledore. I do have some information, and I do believe it will become useful to us in the future. Very useful," Kingsley replied, standing up, with a rather large grin appearing on his face.  
  
"What is it?" Dumbledore asked him, a slight smile also growing on his face. "Well Dumbledore, it seems as though our robbers were not witches or wizards. They were creatures. Porgybesses to be exact," Kingsley told them. Harry remembered Hagrid teaching them about those creatures. Harry was quite interested in them, in fact, and had researched them with Hermione and Ron in the library once, so he knew a lot about them. "In fact, those porgybesses were under the control of Lord Voldemort, as I have found evidence supporting this theory. And one of these porgybesses was sent to attack Hagrid, but as Hagrid was not here, it wound up attacking poor Professor Grubbly-Plank," Kinglsey told the group. "Why thank you, Kingsley. That was very informative. I will need one person to try to persuade these creatures to not side with Voldemort. Will anybody volunteer?" Dumbledore asked. "I shall," someone said from the corner. They all turned around to see Charlie Weasley standing up, ready to take upon this duty. "Okay Charles, please stay after the meeting, and we shall discuss your roles," Dumbledore told him. Charlie nodded, and sat back down in his seat.  
  
"Severus Snape has returned to us, in fairly good condition. Isn't that right, Severus?" Dumbledore said. Snape grunted, most likely signalling a 'yes'. "Please excuse him. He is still not completely healed mentally. But he will be able to return to his job as Potions professor this upcoming week," Dumbledore continued, winking at Harry, who was still looking at Snape. "Okay, Charlie, please stay. Everyone else, you are free to leave. That is, if you don't have any questions," Dumbledore told them. Harry's hand slowly rose into the air. "Yes, Harry, what is it?" Dumbledore asked. "Well, how did Voldemort get into the school?" Harry asked. "Well, you see Harry, we are not exactly sure. We know he apparated into Hogwarts. But we don't know how he bypassed the charm put onto the school by the founders," Dumbledore said. "Professor, who is the last remaining heir to Gryffindor?" Harry asked. "Why Harry, that would be you," Dumbledore told him, a smile growing largely on his face.  
  
Harry's mouth dropped open in amazement. He had never known this before, and Dumbledore had never told him, just like he had never told Harry about the prophecy until last year. "Harry, Godric Gryffindor is one of your great ancestors. It was Salazar that predicted that the heir to him would battle the heir to Gryffindor in years to come. That was how Voldemort knew that it was you the prophecy by Trelawney was about you, and not Neville. That is why you now have to fulfill two prophecies made about you," Dumbledore told him, the smile on his face diminishing, being replaced by a rather sad look. Harry did not know what to think of this. It was basically the same as last year when he had heard the first prophecy. He was not surprised about this prophecy though, but he was surprised that it was he, who had was the last remaining heir to Gryffindor.  
  
He left Dumbledore's office, and went back to the common room, to get some sleep. The next few weeks went by slowly, with no sign of Voldemort or Death Eaters attacking anybody in the Order. There were a few odd things going on, like things going missing, and people going missing, but they all turned up in the end, with nothing wrong with them. Harry could not wait for their first quidditch game on October 13th. When the day finally came, he was very nervous. This was his first real game as quidditch captain of the Gryffindor team, and he wanted to have his team do well on their first game. Hermione was looking the worst of the group, her face had been getting paler as the day grew, and she was looking worse as the game came closer. "Look Hermione, I'm sure you'll do well. Just don't worry about it," Harry told her. But she would not listen. "Fine, this ought to work," he said. He pulled something out of his trunk that was in a bottle, "Drink this." Hermione drank the bottle, and her face was becoming darker, like it was before, no longer pale, and her attitude changed to. Harry had given her some calming potion, to make her not as tense and worried. "Well, are you ready for the game or not?" Hermione asked him, grabbing her broom. "Of course I am," Harry lied. He hastily drank some of the potion himself, and grabbed his broom as well, heading out of the dormitory with Hermione. Ron was waiting for them in the common room.  
  
The trio headed out to the locker rooms in the stadium, where the rest of the team was already waiting, in full dress. "Hello," Harry said to his team, walking into the room. Everybody looked very nervous, but Harry knew they would be fine. Harry got all of his equipment ready, and got dressed in his robes, with his broom in his hand. "Thanks for letting me use the Firebolt, Harry," Ginny said, walking over to him. "I got a Nimbus 2000, like you used to have," Hermione said, also walking over. "Awesome," Harry said, not really caring about what they were saying. He finished getting all of his stuff together, and walked over to the door. "Okay guys, listen up," Harry said, getting ready for his pre-game pep-talk, "I know we can win today. Hufflepuff is nothing. I'm sure we will be able to achieve our goal, and beat them. Hermione, Ginny, and Randal, are you guys ready? Do you think you can make some shots?" "Yeah!" he heard the three Chasers yell back at him. "Alright! Dean, Seamus, are you ready to hit those bludgers?" Harry yelled. "Yeah!" the two beaters yelled back. "Ron, are you ready to block those shots?" Harry asked. "I'm ready!" Ron replied. "Let's go get 'em!" Harry shouted. The team ran out onto the field, with big grins on their faces, ready to win their first game.   
  
"Okay, Captains, shake hands," Madame Hooch said. Harry reached out his hand, and shook the Hufflepuff Captain's hand. "Okay, on my count of three. One, two...three!" Madame Hooch shouted. She blew her whistle, and everybody rose into the air. Harry's broom zoomed up into the sky, the Hufflepuff Seeker following him, trying to keep on his tail. But Harry was not easy to keep up to, as he had a very fast broom, the Lightning Star. He flew around the field, watching the game below him, and keeping an eye open for the snitch. He saw Randal make another shot, making that his fifth shot already that game. Randal truly was an amazing chaser. The score was 60-10, Gryffindor in the lead, and Harry had still not seen any sign of the snitch. Still flying in circles around the field, he saw Hermione make her first shot of the game, which made her very happy, he could tell. He didn't have enough time to warn her however, that a bludger was coming right for her head.  
  
Harry saw the bludger hit her in the back of her head. She went tumbling downwards to the ground, and right near her head was the snitch. Harry dove downwards, and so did the Hufflepuff Seeker. Harry was going a lot faster than the other Seeker, and he reached out for the Snitch, catching it with his left hand. He soared below Hermione, and caught her as well, making sure she did no hit the ground. But her head was still bleeding from the impact of the bludger. Harry landed, with the snitch in one hand, and holding onto Hermione with the other. Madame Pomfrey was already there with a stretcher, and she immediately took hold of Hermione, and wheeled her up to the school. He could see some of the Slytherins pointing at her and laughing as she was wheeled out of the stadium. Harry was very worried about her, but he was also very happy, because he had won his first game as Captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team. He held the snitch up high in the air in victory, and the rest of his team picked him up, carrying him off the field. The final score had been 220 to 60, with Gryffindor winning the game.   
  
Harry and the rest of the team entered the school, and headed off to see Hermione. "Hey Hermione," Harry said, moving her hair out of her face. "Hey Harry," she said, very sleepily. "How are you feeling" he asked. "Not too good. Did we win?" Hermione asked. "Yes, I caught the snitch just as you were about to hit the ground, and then prevented you from being in worse condition than you are in right now," Harry told her. "Thanks Harry," Hermione said to him. "All of you need to leave. You are disturbing the patients," Madame Pomfrey told them. "Madame Pomfrey, may I go see Cho?" Harry asked. "Only for a few minutes. Everyone else, however, must leave!" Madame Pomfrey told them. Harry walked over to the bed where Cho was lying, half-awake.  
  
"Hey Cho," Harry said, very softly, brushing her hair out of her face. "Hey Harry," Cho replied, her body lying still while she spoke. "How are you feeling?" Harry asked her. "I'm feeling just a little better," she answered. "Well, that's good," Harry replied. "Mr. Potter, I'm going to have to ask you to leave now," Madame Pomfrey said from behind him. "Goodbye," Harry said to Cho, turning to leave. "Goodbye Harry," she replied, her voice soft, like a dove. Harry left the hospital wing, and headed off towards the common room, where Ron was waiting. He said goodbye to Hermione also, as he left the room. He walked down the corridors, finally reaching the deserted common room, which was empty except for one person. Stefanie Riddle.  
  
A/N~ Thank you so much for the reviews! Keep on reviewing! 


	16. Chapter Sixteen Charlie's Angels

"Why are you here?" Harry asked her. "I'm getting my things," she replied. "Get out of here now!" Harry yelled, whipping out his wand. She too had drawn her wand. "Don't make me do it again," Harry told her, "You remember what happened last time we faught." "Yes, I do remember. And I underestimated you, but I will be ready next time," she replied. And with a swish of her cloak, she had vanished in a cloud of smoke. Harry still did not understand how they were able to apparate into and out of Hogwarts. He was very puzzled by this, and decided there was only one way to find out how. He must go to the restricted section and look for something that would clue him in, to how they were able to apparate into Hogwarts.  
  
He researched for a long time, with great intensity within the depths of the Restricted Section of the Hogwarts library. He did not stop researching until he found something that would make his life a lot easier. There was a book which stated that the founders set up a system that made the castle's apparation system able to be controlled through the minds of their relatives. Harry saw this, and knew this was how Voldemort was getting into the castle. He was the heir to Slytherin, and he was probably controlling the system, and allowing his Death Eaters to penetrate the castle, to attack Harry, and other members of the Order of the Phoenix.   
  
He ran off to Dumbledore's office, where Dumbledore was sitting in his chair at his desk, reading a piece of parchment with great interest. "Sir! I know how Voldemort is getting into Hogwarts!" Harry yelled, running into the office. "Oh you do, do you?" Dumbledore said with great interest, looking up from his studies. "Yes! The founders put a spell on the school, so that they would be able to control the apparation system into and out of Hogwarts. Since the Salazar Slytherin's blood runs in the veins of Voldemort, he is able to open the apparation system at any time he desires, to let his Death Eaters penetrate the shield, and attack us. He has most likely just learned of this special skill, and I'm sure this will help us!" Harry told Dumbledore. "Why thank you Harry! That was most informative," Dumbledore replied. "Yes," Harry agreed. "Well, we must be going down to dinner, we don't want to miss out on any food, do we?" Dumbledore replied. "Nah," Harry said. "Well, I'll be sure to inform the Order on this new news," Dumbledore told him. They walked down to the Great Hall for a feast.  
  
Harry ate all the food in sight. He felt like one of those men that were in those hot dog eating contests he had seen on the television at the Dursley's. He also felt rather a lot like Dudley, stuffing his face with anything he could get his hands on. He was hungry after the game, after defeating the first team he played as team captain. He realized that if he kept this up, he could be the the captain to make Gryffindor win the quidditch cup for the third year in a row. That would be something his father would be proud of. "Hey Harry," Ron said, sitting down next to him. "Where were you?" Harry asked, realizing that he had been sitting all by himself for the whole meal. "I was visiting Hermione," Ron told him. "Oh, how's she feeling?" Harry asked him. "Well, she's not doing all that well. She looks pretty bad, but I'm sure she'll be fine by tomorrow. She seems to think that she'll be going to classes tomorrow. You know how she is about missing classes," Ron answered. Harry laughed. Hermione's attitude towards school had still not changed. She was still as paranoid about her grades as she had been since her first year, even after being knocked off her broom by a bludger that had smacked her in the back of her head.  
  
They continued eating, and Dumbledore stood up after everyone was finished, tapping his goblet with his fork, signalling for everyone to silence themselves. "Today, we witnessed a quidditch game between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, where Gryffindor came out victorious. The final score being a whopping 220 points to 60 points. A Gryffindor Chaser by the name of Hermione Granger was injured very badly by a bludger, and the only reason for her not being in worse condition is because of a boy named Harry Potter, who saved her from hitting the ground. For this, we thank him," Dumbledore concluded. There was a round of applause for Harry, who's face became red as a cherry, just as Ron always turned when he was embarrassed. Everybody got up from their house tables, talking, no doubt about the quidditch game that had occurred earlier that day. Harry knew that he had done a good job protecting Hermione, and that he had done a wonderful job practicing with his team so that they would become the quidditch champions that year.  
  
He headed off to the common room, and went straight to his dormitory, ready to get some sleep before the next day when he went back to school. The following days went by rather quickly, until that next Thursday, when it was time for his animagus training. He walked into Professor McGonagall's room, where she was standing with Lupin. "Harry, it is time to see how well you can transform," Professor McGonagall told him. This was the day he had always been waiting for. "We think you have been taught rather well, and it is time for you to prove if you can do it or not," Lupin told him. Harry closed his eyes, and concentrated very hard on the shape of a phoenix. He thought very hard about the structure. When he lifted his eye lids, he saw that he had successfully transformed. He flapped his wings, and started to fly around the room, soaring just like he was an actual phoenix. Nobody would be able to tell that it wasn't real. Harry landed on the ground, and in a matter of seconds, he was back to his normal human state. "Well done, Harry," Professor McGonagall told him.  
  
"Why don't you try the stag now Harry!" Lupin instructed, his face lit up, looking extremely happy. This time, he concentrated on a stag, and this time, he transformed into a stag a lot quicker than he had transformed into a phoenix. He galloped around the room, jumping over desks and chairs, finding out all of the strengths and weaknesses of transformation. He transformed back to human state once again, with a round of applause from Lupin, but Professor McGonagall still stood still, as if she was frozen to her spot. "Very good Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall told him. "Thank you," Harry responded. "Well, I don't think he needs any more training," Lupin interjected. "Perhaps not," Professor McGonagall agreed, "What do you think Mr. Potter? Do you think you can handle it pretty well now?" "Of course professor!" exclaimed Harry. "Very well, that is all. You will not be needing these lessons anymore," Professor McGonagall told him. Harry briefly gave a smile of relief, and left the room, heading straight for the common room to let Ron and Hermione know. He knew his friends would be happy for him.  
  
Ron and Hermione were found sitting by the fire, working on some homework, Hermione doing Potions, whereas Ron was working on Herbology. "Hey guys," Harry said. "How was training?" Hermione asked. "It was absolutely magnificent!" exclaimed Harry. "Why?" Ron asked him, confused by Harry's sudden change in feeling for his animagus lessons. "Well, I got to transform! And they told me that since I did it so perfectly, I don't have to go to any more lessons!" "Wow Harry!" exclaimed Hermione. "Amazing! Can we see you transform?" Ron asked. "We'll have to go somewhere private," Harry told them. "Your dormitory," Hermione told them, "Dean, Seamus, and Neville all left to go somewhere, so just go in there." The trio ran up the staircase, and into Harry's empty dormitory. "So, what do you want me to transform into first? Phoenix or stag?" Harry asked them. "Phoenix!" Ron answered. He thought real hard about the phoenix, and in a only about two seconds, he had completely transformed. He flapped his wings, and flew around the air. He dove towards the ground, and then rose back up. He started to circle his friends' heads, before they told him to land, and transform into the stag. He gladly did so, and his friends were just as delighted by that transformation. When he was done, he told them he wanted some sleep, and he laid down in his bed, drifting off into deep sleep.  
  
Time seemed to go just as fast the next couple of days, until his Occlumency lesson that next Tuesday. "Today Harry, I have decided that you shall be done with Occlumency training. But you will not stop training with me on Tuesdays, as we will not begin training you in Legilimency. I believe that you learning this will be very important and crucial to the survival of the Order," Dumbledore told him. "Legilimency?" Harry thought, "Wow! That seems cool!" Dumbledore had continued that night to inform him all about what legilimency was, and how it was carried out. Harry was deeply interested in this, and could not wait until he could read people's minds. He knew why it would be important and helpful to the Order, because he would be able to get into Voldemort's mind because of their mental bond, and find out what Voldemort would be up to.   
  
That night, he made sure he put up his mental barrier before drifting to sleep, especially since he didn't want Voldemort to know about him being a fully trained animagi and about him learning legilimency. The next night, there was an Order meeting with Dumbledore. One person was missing, Charlie Weasley. "Everybody listen up! Tonight, we will not be having a meeting. We will be on a mission. We must go to a cave on the other side of the Forbidden Forest, where the porgybesses are currently residing. Charlie Weasley is being held there, and we need to get him back," Dumbledore told them. Harry heard Mrs. Weasley, and Bill Weasley gasp, and Mrs. Weasley started to weep. "Molly! Calm down, everything is going to be alright. We're going to go get him," Dumbledore told her. "Everybody grab a broom. Harry, I do believe you will want to use your Lightning Star, so I took the liberty of retrieving it for you. Here," Dumbledore said, handing Harry his broomstick.  
  
They exited the office and left the school, going outside so they could fly. When Dumbledore emerged from the building, he told them when to take off, and the members of the Order gladly did so, except Snape, who didn't look very happy about flying. They set off over top of the Forbidden Forest. Harry could see the small clearing where Grawp once inhabited. They kept on flying, and Harry thought he saw a glimpse of a unicorn by a waterfall, but he wasn't quite sure. He stopped concentrating on the forest, and began to concentrate harder on where he was flying, not wanting to get lost, as he had no clue where he was or where he was going. Dumbledore, who was at the front of the pack, started to descend, and so did most of the group, after realizing Dumbledore was. They landed in a clearing, and Dumbledore told them to stay quiet.  
  
"Listen up. The cavern is only about a quarter of a mile away from here. We have to be quiet before we get there. We don't want to be heard. When we do get there, we will raid the cavern. Do not be afraid to take down any creature you see. I will raise my hand when we are ready to start," Dumbledore told them. They immediately started hiking towards the cavern, not wanting it to be dark when they got there. The walk was very short, and when they got into viewing range of the cavern, they all ditched their broomsticks in a bush near the side of the path. Dumbledore rose his hand, and the members of the Order knew it was time for the rescuing operation to begin.  
  
Bill Weasley led the pack, charging into the cavern, wand rose. Harry was at the back of the pack, Lupin and Tonks on either side of him. They ran towards the cavern, and entered it from what Harry supposed was the front. There were many tunnels. They all split up, taking different ways, Harry went with Lupin, Tonks, and unluckily, Snape. Tonks led their group. Harry wasn't sure if that was such a good idea though. They saw their first sign of a porgybess, and Lupin stunned it as soon as it became visible. They kept on walking, until they reached a large area, where there was at least a dozen creatures closing in on them from all sides. 


	17. Chapter Seventeen Talking With Some Old ...

"Stupefy!" Harry shouted, pointing his wand at one of the animals, who quickly fell. "Harry! Put up your shield!" Lupin told him. "Infragilis Contego!" Harry said, and the shield he had been learning immediately formed around him. Moments later, one of the creatures came running at him, but immediately burnt up into ashes as soon as it touched the shield. He let the shield off, as no other animals were in sight, Lupin, Snape, and Tonks had stunned most of them. They continued down a pathway, which led to a chamber. It was very dark, and Harry could hear a muffled voice. They lit their wands, and to their surprise, Charlie Weasley was sitting there with his mouth taped. These animals were surprisingly smart. They walked over to him, and untaped his mouth. "Are you alright?" Harry asked. "Yes, I'm fine. But we must get out of here. The porgybesses will be here any minute. They have been keeping an eye out for people trying to help me out of here," Charlie told him. They hurriedly untied Charlie, and helped him to his feet. They exited the chamber, and once again, there were many porgybesses, surrounding them from all sides. But they were lucky, because off in the distance, other Order members were coming, after hearing Tonks shriek.  
  
Harry hurriedly stunned one that was coming right at him, not wanting to be torn apart by their claws. "Stupefy!" Charlie yelled at one of the creatures, sending it flying to the ground. "Stupefy!" came another voice. It was that of Bill Weasley. It seemed as though one of the other groups had caught up to them. There were still two other groups coming from other parts of the caverns. Bill, Mrs. Weasley, Kingsley, and a younger wizard whom Harry did not know, were now fighting the animals with them. Harry was about to attack one of them, when it prounced upon him, knocking his wand out of his hand. The animal was on top of him, breathing deeply. He remembered reading about wandless magic in his book, and realized this would be the perfect time for it to work. "Conglutino," he thought in his mind, staring intently at the porgybess. "Conglutino," he thought in his head once more, this time more intensely. Thick metal ropes came out of nowhere, binding the animal's hands together, leaving the animal defenseless. Harry pushed the animal away, and got up, going straight for his wand.  
  
Just then, another group of Order members arrived. Dumbledore and Moody were in this group, along with Mundungus Fletcher and the Minister of Magic himself, Arthur Weasley. Many of the porgybesses were now on the ground, and there were only about ten left. They went down fairly quickly, as now there were more Order members than there was porgybesses. After stunning them all, or at least incapacitating them, everybody headed out of the chamber, and headed outside towards where the brooms were. As Dumbledore instructed them on what was to be done next, they retrieved their broomsticks, and mounted them. When Dumbledore ordered them to take off back for the castle, they all gladly did so, not wanting to be around those caverns any longer. By the time they had reached the castle once again, it was about two o'clock in the morning. He knew he had missed quidditch practice and astronomy, but Harry knew everybody would understand. Ron had told the team that Harry was not going to be able to make it to practice, and Dumbledore had informed his Astronomy professor about Harry doing something with him that night.  
  
He fell asleep that night, very glad that Dumbledore had let him help for his first time on an Order mission, and he was very glad that he was able to help save Charlie. He had a very freaky dream. He had one like this a couple times before, and it had always felt weird to him. He was in the room in the Department of Mysteries where the veil was, and he could hear his godfather's voice. "Harry! Help me! You have to get me out!" he could hear Sirius saying. Before he awoke, he heard Sirius' voice saying something like "Undorido." Harry did not know what it meant, or if it even meant anything. All he did know was that it was early in the morning, and that he was very hungry, so he decided to go get some breakfast.  
  
He had Defence Against the Dark Arts later that day, in which he was learning a few counter jinxes. He was told by Lupin to stay after class, apparently there was something important he had to tell Harry. "Harry, I am very proud of you. And I was thinking, since you've been so helpful to me and the Order, I should tell you something that you should be wanting to know. Last night, I talked to Sirius. Apparently, he was clumsy and he lost his two-way mirror, but he found it, and was still able to contact us through the portal. I have the third mirror. He told me he didn't really want you to see him, as he knew it would only make you more depressed, and he did tell me that he heard Bellatrix try to use a sort of curse on the veil, but was not able to tell what it was. He wants you to know that he still cares for you Harry, and he wants you to know that he always will. Now Harry, I'm not sure we have a lot of time to help ol' Padfoot out. I hope we can, but we still don't konw what to do. I'll let you know if I find anything," Lupin told him, and with that, they both left the room.  
  
Harry sulked back towards his common room, thinking about his godfather. Sirius had always been there for him, and had always been there to help him when he needed it the most. Harry knew that he was in Sirius' debt, and he knew he had to help Sirius out of this mess. But he knew he couldn't do it on his own. He would have to get some help from Ron and Hermione. He continued to think about Sirius, not paying any attention to where he was going. He ran into something that was very hard. "Watch where you're going Potter!" he heard someone say. He looked to see what, or whom, he ran into, and saw that it was Draco Malfoy. "Sorry Malfoy," was all Harry said before he kept walking towards his common room. He heard Draco say to his two cronies, "Geesh, what's wrong with him?" Harry let out a tiny laugh, and followed the corridors back to his common room.  
  
Upon entering the common room, he heard Hermione say his name. "Harry!" she called, "Where have you been? We've been looking all over for you!" Harry knew that this was his one chance to let Hermione and Ron know about Sirius. "Listen guys, I have something to tell you. It's very important," Harry told them. "Well, spit it out!" Ron said, getting anxious as usual. "Well, I found a way to get Sirius back. I also found out a way to get in contact with Sirius. We have two-way mirrors, and they still work. I was just talking to him, but he told me he didn't want me to do anything about it," Harry told them. "Well, we can't just let him stay in there and die! We have to help him!" exclaimed Ron. "I don't know guys, it sounds rather dangerous," Hermione said, rather nervously. "Don't worry, Mione. Everything will work out fine!" Ron told her, "So, when are we going to go help him?" "Well, it's not that simple. Voldemort had sent Bellatrix Lestrange to try to get some of their old followers back from behind the veil, but she was not powerful enough to use the spell. If she wasn't powerful enough, then how are we supposed to do it?" Harry explained. "It's easy. The three of us together have more power than just Bellatrix, so we should be able to pull it off if every single one of us did it at the same time," Hermione told him. "But still, don't you think Voldemort would have thought of that?" Harry asked her. "Yeah, he probably did," Hermione admitted.  
  
"Guys, there's something else," Harry told them. "What?" Hermione asked. "Well, the reason Voldemort is after me is because there was a prophecy made by Professor Trelawney," Harry answered. "You can't trust that it's real then! You know she's a fluke!" exclaimed Ron. "I'm afraid to say that it is real. The prophecy states that I, well it states it indirectly, not once actually saying my name, I am the only one with the power to destroy Voldemort. One of us has to kill the other in the end," Harry told them. They sat there with their mouths hung wide open in shock. "I know, it sucks, tell me about it. I'm the one who has to kill Voldemort," Harry said to them. "Wow," was all Hermione could muster up. "Sorry to hear that mate," Ron told him. "Nah, don't worry about it. I'm the one who should be worrying about it. Any moment Voldemort could kill me," Harry said, his mind now thinking of the bigger picture. That was why Sirius didn't want Harry to come rescue him. It was because Harry could be killed at any time, and he didn't want Harry to risk his life.  
  
Dinner that night was very quiet for the trio. They did not talk to each other, not because they were fighting, but because they were frightened. Hermione and Ron were still thinking about what Harry had said, and Harry was still thinking about what Sirius had said. He didn't care what Sirius said. He had to help his godfather. He just had to. He hurriedly ate his dinner, and Dumbledore stood up as if to make a speech. "I would like to announce the return of Rubeus Hagrid!" Dumbledore said excitedly. The whole school turned their heads towards the doors of the Great Hall as they opened. Hagrid walked, or rather stomped, through the doors, and towards the staff table. Harry was glad to see him back. That meant there would be no more awkward lessons with Krum. Ron, Harry, and Hermione smiled at each other when they heard of his return. Hagrid took his seat at the staff table, and began eating. The rest of the school was leaving.  
  
Harry and his two friends, however, walked towards the staff table. They wanted to greet their old friend, and tell him they were glad to have him back. "Hey Hagrid!" Hermione said, running up to him and giving him a giant hug. "Oh, 'ey Mione! Hey Harry! Hey Ron!" Hagrid said, his face lit up as well. "Glad to have ya back, Hagrid!" Harry told him. "Yea, mate!" Ron agreed. "Well, I'm glad to be back as well. I'll tell ya all about it after class tomorrow!" Hagrid told them, "Now why don't you guys get off to bed. I have some things I have to discuss with Dumbledore." The trio did as they were told, heading back towards their common room. They were very eager to learn of Hagrid's journey, and hear what went on during his trip. They knew that Hagrid would most likely have some pretty interesting stories to tell yet again about his trip to the giants.  
  
The next day went by slowly, especially Hagrid's class. They were finished talking about porgybesses, and had started now to talk about goblins, as a creature, not the history of them. Harry learned some interesting facts about the goblins, and about their magic. Hagrid was much more interesting than Grubbly-Plank or Krum had been. And amazingly, he was easier to understand than Krum. Usually Hagrid was much harder to understand than other people, but Krum's Bulgarian accent made it hard for the trio to understand what he was saying. They were all happy to have Hagrid back.   
  
Hagrid began to tell them about the giants when there was about twenty minutes left in class. "Well, when I got there, I found that Voldemort had recently sent Death Eaters, and there was still one there, which I totally destroyed, causing Voldemort to lose one more follower," Hagrid told them, laughing. Harry laughed as well. "Well, I have persuaded most of the giants to help us, and I have done the best I could. Although some giants have decided to stay out of it for good, I don't think I can get those giants to change their minds," Hagrid continued, "I also saw Grawp while I was there. He was with a female giant, who was holding a little baby giant, which is abou' as big as Harry." Harry laughed. He had never realized how big baby giants would be. The thought of them being as big as him made him laugh.   
  
They ended up going to lunch late, and this was probably the first time in a couple days that Harry had actually eaten lunch. He was very hungry that day though, so he decided that he probably shouldn't skip lunch. They left for the common room after eating, where they hung out and began talking once more about saving Sirius. Harry did not really want to talk about it with his friends, as it was beginning to make him feel rather depressed. They decided that the three of them alone would not be able to go to the Ministry of Magic and save Sirius. They would have to recruit a few others, like Ginny and Neville, who had both helped them last year. 


	18. Chapter Eighteen Saving Sirius

A/N~ To answer a few questions:  
  
~How many chapters is it going to be? I am approximating somewhere around thirty or thirty-five  
  
~When am I going to post again? Well, I think this chappie can answer that question! I will try to post at least every one or two weeks...  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Chapter Eighteen~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
It was at that very moment that Ginny Weasley came strolling into the room from her dormitory. "Well, I'd love to help you, Harry!" Ginny told him, a wide grin across her face. "What do you mean?" Harry asked her. How did she know that he wanted her to help him with anything? Ginny just held up a pair of Extendable Ears and laughed. When Harry saw this, he began to laugh as well. He knew there was a reason he helped Fred and George to open their joke shop. "Well, sure, I guess you can help us," Harry told her, smiling. Now all they had to do was to get at least one more person to help them out, like Neville.   
  
The four kids all went off to the Great Hall, discussing some of the details of the plan. In particular, they were discussing why Bellatrix Lestrange could not use the spell successfully. Harry thought he knew why, however. Dumbledore had told him about a force contained in a room in the Department of Mysteries that Voldemort hated, and that Harry had large amounts of. He didn't know what that force was, but he did know that it had something to do with the veil, and using that spell. He decided not to tell the others however. He didn't know why he didn't want to tell the others, but there was something he felt that told him not to tell them.   
  
After dinner was over, he snuck off to the library. He wanted to find out what that force was. He began looking for information about the Department of Mysteries, and about all forces in nature that Voldemort could possibly detest. He began thinking it was something about 'love', but that would be too simple. It couldn't be that, it had to be something else. He stayed up late that night, researching in the library. But he did not find anything that would help him. Everywhere he looked, they avoided mentioning the force that was contained within that room. He didn't know how he would ever find out what it was.  
  
The weekend went by quickly, as did the next couple of weeks, and before Harry knew it, the month had turned to November. The Halloween feast was like it normally was. The Great Hall was decorated magnificently, and the food was better than normal. There was also a lot more food than normal. But Harry was sitting in the common room on this November day, looking through his trunk. He pulled out his two-way mirror. "Sirius!" he said into the mirror. Nobody else was in the common room, they were all at lunch. Moments later, Sirius' face appeared, a ghostly shade of white was now the color of that familiar face. It was not smiling like normal, but instead it looked very horrible. "Yes, Harry, what do you need?" Sirius asked him. "Well, I was just wondering how you were making out in there," Harry told him. "I'm fine, Harry. Just promise me you won't come here!" Sirius exclaimed. "You don't look fine! You look like you're about to die!" Harry told him. "Harry, I told you before, you don't need to be trying to help me! Remember what happened the last time you tried to help me? I wasn't even in trouble then!" Sirius replied. "But this time you are in trouble!" Harry told him. He was getting very angry at his godfather. Sirius' face disappeared once more. He knew that he didn't have much time to go save his godfather.   
  
At that moment, Neville Longbottom walked into the common room. "Neville! Come here, I need to talk to you!" Harry shouted. Neville walked over to where Harry was sitting, and took a seat next to him. "What's up?" Neville asked. "You know how my godfather fell behind that veil in he Department of Mysteries last year?" Harry asked him. "Yes, I saw what happened," Nevilled replied. "Well, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and I are going to go help him out of there, and we wanted to know if you would be willing to help," Harry told him. "Of course! I'd be glad to help ya out, Harry!" Neville told him, "When are we going?" "Well, I was thinking we could go tomorrow," Harry replied.  
  
"Tomorrow?! Are you crazy? We can't go tomorrow!" Neville said. "Why not? Tomorrow is Saturday, and mostly everybody will be going to Hogsmeade, so it would be the perfect time to go to the Ministry!" Harry replied. Just then, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny walked in, all laughing about something that must have been quite hilarious. "Guys, come here," Harry told them, waving them over to where he and Neville were standing. "I was thinking about going to the Ministry tomorrow," Harry told them, not staring anyone in the face. "Well, if it means saving Sirius, I guess so," Ron replied, smiling. "Sure, I see no harm," Ginny agreed. "Tomorrow? Why tomorrow? Are you sure you want to do this Harry?" Hermione said, her voice trembling as she spoke. "You're not backing down on me now, are you Hermione?" Harry asked her. "No, I'm not backing down. If you're in, I'm in. I'm just not sure about the whole tomorrow thing. We haven't really had much time to think of a plan," Hermione told him. "We'll be fine, Hermione. I just need to know, are you in or out?" Harry asked her again. "I'm in," she finally gave in. "Great! It's settled. We're going tomorrow!" Harry said, his face lighting up. He was finally going to save his godfather.  
  
The day went by very slowly for Harry. He could not wait until the next day. But he had a weird feeling that something was going to happen. He didn't care though. He just wanted to help Sirius. He would do anything for Sirius. He could not sleep that night. He kept waking up after having dreams of the veil. He saw himself, laughing as he pointed his wand at someone. He couldn't make out who it was. Then he saw Neville. He was also pointing his wand at the same person. He saw Sirius behind him, telling him to stop, and he saw another person near the person he was pointing the wand at. It was Voldemort. He was laughing. He knew the person he was pointing his wand at must've been a death eater. He didn't know who it was though. Obviously Voldemort must not of cared about him very much, as he was about to let Harry and Neville both do something bad to the person.  
  
The next morning, Harry got out of his bed, and he saw Neville sitting up on his bed, sweating like a pig. "What's wrong Neville?" Harry asked. "Well, I had this horrible dream that I...I...k-k-k-illed somebody. It was terrible Harry!" Neville told him. He sounded horrible, and his face was white as a ghost. "Calm down, Neville," Ron said, sitting up in his bed, "There's nothing to worry about." Ron got out of his bed, and started to change. Harry did so as well, and Neville quickly followed their lead, getting dressed as well. They all headed down to breakfast together, Ginny joining them when they emerged from their dormitory. "Hey Ginny!" Harry said, smiling. "Oh, hey Harry!" she replied. They entered the Great Hall together. Not many people were in there already, but Hermione was sitting at the table reading the Daily Prophet. "Harry! This says that death eaters broke into the Ministry of Magic yesterday! But they didn't get away. They were caught on their way to the Department of Mysteries!" Hermione told them. "What?" Harry replied, in a state of disbelief. He took the newspaper, and sure enough, there in bold letters were the words "Death Eaters Caught in the Ministry of Magic Building!" He was shocked at this news, but was glad they were caught. There was no telling what they could have been after.  
  
"It's going to be a lot harder to get in there now. The security will be on red alert after that break-in," Hermione told Harry, looking very nervous. "It'll be alright Hermione. We'll definitely be under the invisibility cloak, so nobody will see us except someone with a magical eye like Moody's," Harry replied, not feeling nervous at all. He had to go save his godfather. "So, how soon are we leaving?" Neville asked them. "Well, right after breakfast, I guess," Harry answered. They continued to eat breakfast. Harry ate a lot more than usual. He needed energy that day so that he could fight someone if necessary. He had a weird feeling that something bad would happen, but that wasn't going to stop him from helping Sirius.   
  
They went back to the common room after breakfast, and got a few things together. They all got dressed in their robes with their wands in their pockets. "Hold on, how are we getting there?" Hermione asked. "Well, I'm going to be in my animagus form, and the rest of you can use broomsticks to get there," Harry told them, grabbing his invisibility cloak out of his trunk. They checked to make sure they had everything before heading out of the common room and going through the portrait hole. They went out of the school, and out to the school grounds.   
  
As soon as Harry made sure nobody was watching him, he transformed into his phoenix shape, and took off into the air. The rest followed, going high so nobody could see them. Harry led the way, across the school grounds, across the Forbidden Forest, and then across the town of Hogsmeade. At last they reached the entrance to the Ministry of Magic, and they got off their broomsticks in an alley nearby. They grabbed their broomsticks, and Harry transformed back. They headed out of the alleyway, and got ready to go save Sirius.  
  
Harry and the rest of the group crammed their way into an old telephone booth, where Harry picked up the receiver. He dialed the numbers 6-2-4-4-2. "Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Please state your name and business." the phone said. "Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley, Ginny Weasley, and Neville Longbottom. We're here to save an old friend," Harry spoke into the phone. Five badges slipped out of the phone. One of them read:   
  
HARRY POTTER   
  
Rescue Mission   
  
They took their badges, and headed down through the elevator. They were taken to the main entrance, now under the invisibility cloak. They snuck past a few security guards and entered the main elevator. They pushed the button for the very last floor, where the Department of Mysteries was located. They reached the last floor, and followed the hallway to the end. They heard someone walk into one of the other rooms in that corridor and stood dead still to avoid making any sound.   
  
The group entered the door to the Department of Mysteries. They were in the revolving room, and they tried a few doors to see which would work. "Alohomora!" Hermione shouted, unlocking one of the doors. It still would not open. "Oh well, it's not that one," she said, laughing slightly. Harry knew which door it was. He opened the door, and automatically dropped to the floor in pain. His scar was burning very badly.  
  
An excruciating pain was pulsating through every last inch of his body. He could not move. It was as if he was frozen in that same position. "Harry, are you okay" Hermione asked him. But he did not reply. He couldn't hear her say anything. All he could hear was a cold laugh coming from just a few feet ahead. "No," he muttered to himself through the pain. "That's right Harry. Get up, you can do this!" a voice in his head said to him. He had only heard that voice in dreams, and when the dementors came. It was his father's. "I will do this," he told himself. He got up from where he was lying moments before, and grasped his wand firmly. He shut the door behind him and locked it, so the others could not interfere. "I knew you would try to save him again. You always would," Voldemort said to him. "Where are you? Show yourself! Fight like a man!" Harry yelled. At this, he was thrusted upwards, and slammed against the far wall. "I thought we'd have a little chat first," the cold voice said, letting Harry down to the floor again, "So, let's see, do you know what is in the prophecy?" "No clue," Harry lied. "Liar!" exclaimed Voldemort, slamming him once more into the wall, "Tell me now!"   
  
"I will never tell you anything!" Harry said. "Fine, we'll do it your way," Voldemort's cold voice replied, echoing through the room. Harry fell to the ground. "Harry! Don't let him control your mind like this! Fight back. Remember, your wands can't work against each other. This is just a battle of the minds!" his father's voice came back to him. Harry tried not to concentrate on anything as he put up his mental barrier. Now Voldemort could not read his mind. "Do you want to know what's in the prophecy?" Harry asked him. "It's too late Potter. I already know. Remember, I am inside your mind," Voldemort said, his face a little saddened. Harry knew why. He had just been thinking about something that was a lie. He had been thinking so hard about the prophecy saying that he would defeat Voldemort. That's what Voldemort thought. But Harry had fed him bad information. Voldemort was losing at his own game.   
  
"Crucio!" Voldemort said, pointing his wand at Harry. Harry fell to the ground in pain, but then he heard the door open. Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville were all standing there, their wands raised high in the air, pointing straight at Voldemort. "So, you came to help your dear little friend Harry?" Voldemort asked, still holding the curse on Harry. Ron started to run at Voldemort, but Hermione grabbed his arm. Voldemort laughed at the sight, his cold, shrill laugh echoing through the darkness of the room. He lifted the curse, and turned to Ron, who was still being held by Hermione. Harry saw something interesting though. He saw the veil at the end of the room. It was emitting a glow, and a voice was coming from behind it. "Harry! Come quick! This is your chance!" the voice was saying. It was Sirius.   
  
Apparently nobody else could hear it, so Harry ran off towards the veil in hopes of saving Sirius. Voldemort looked on as Harry ran towards the veil. There was no stopping him. "Undorido Dethegath!" Harry yelled at the veil. Nothing happened. He concentrated more, not thinking about what Voldemort was planning to do. "Undorido Dethegath!" he yelled once more, pointing his wand at the veil. He watched as silver mist erupted from the end of his wand, turning into the stag. It went through the veil and emerged moments later, carrying the body of Sirius Black. "Sirius!" exclaimed Harry, "We have to get out of here!"  
  
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A/N~ I want more reviews before I post more!! 


	19. Chapter Nineteen The Mystery Beyond the ...

"I told you not to come after me! And look what happened when you didn't listen to me! Voldemort is here, and ready to kill you!" exclaimed Sirius, a look of extreme worry on his face. He lifted his torn shirt sleeve to reveal a mark on his arm. It was a phoenix. He pushed hard on it with his thumb. "What are you doing?" Harry asked. "I'm signalling the Order. They'll be here any minute," Sirius replied. "Well, well, Mr. Potter, do you like the decorations?" he heard a cold voice say from behind him. He turned around and saw Voldemort laughing, while pointing at four bodies hanging from the ceiling by their legs. "Oh no! Look what happened to my friends!" he thought to himself. He had to do something. He was tired of watching people be torn away from him because of who he was.  
  
"Let them go, and you can have me," Harry told him. "Oh really? Are you really giving up that easily Potter? I don't think you will," Voldemort replied in a cool drawling voice. "I'm being serious," Harry said. The bodies of his friends were let down easily. He couldn't believe what he was doing. "Harry! Don't do it!" he heard Hermione yell. Harry raised his wand, ready to do something, but Voldemort just called out, "Expelliarmus!" and Harry was left helplessly standing there. "Hahahahaha...You thought you could trick me, did you Potter? Well, I'm not really that stupid," Voldemort said. "Ah, I think so. Infragilis Contego!" Harry yelled, sticking his arm out and bending his wrist upward. He had done it. The wandless magic he had read about was working! The same spell he had learned with his wand was taking effect now, guarding Harry from danger. "What?! You can't do that!" Voldemort yelled, very angry.  
  
He turned to Harry's friends, and got ready to do something, when Harry heard Sirius speak. "Crucio!" Sirius yelled, pointing his old battered wand at Voldemort. Voldemort fell to the ground at once, in great pain. Harry never knew Sirius was that powerful. He saw some Order members walk into the room, and watched as Dumbledore strode in after them. Harry took off the shield, and walked over to Lupin, who was his rightful guardian. "How are you feeling, Harry?" Lupin asked him. "I'm doin' alright, I guess," Harry replied. He watched as Dumbledore put a spell on Voldemort so he could not apparate or escape, and watched as he was taken away by many Order members. Sirius stood up, and walked over to Lupin. "Padfoot!" Lupin said, grabbing Sirius into a big hug. "I always knew there was something strange about you, Moony," Sirius said, laughing. "Ah, the same ol' Padfoot," Lupin said, breaking away from the hug.  
  
Dumbledore walked over to where Harry was standing, the other kids quickly appearing around him. "Well done, Harry," Dumbledore told him, "Well done." "Thanks professor," Harry replied. "Now kids, I want you to get back to the school. Here take this," Dumbledore told them, handing them a little rubber ball that was in his pocket. "Portus," he said, pointing his wand at it. They kids all gathered around. "1....2....3...." Dumbledore counted, and the kids were gone in a whirl. They landed with a smash on the ground of the Entrance Hall, and got up. "Harry! That was great!" Ron said, giving him a good smack on the back. "Yes Harry, it was! And I'm ever so glad you're okay!" Hermione exclaimed, grabbing him into a big hug. Seconds later, Ginny was also hugging him. "I'm so glad nothing happened Harry!" Ginny told him. "And I'm glad nothing happened to you guys," Harry told them all. "Nice job Harry," Neville said, patting him on the back.  
  
Moments later, Dumbledore arrived along with Lupin, who was helping to support Sirius. The three adults walked through the doors of the castle, and Harry ran at them, giving Lupin and Sirius a big hug. "It's nice to see you again, Harry!" Sirius told him, "I thought you'd never come!" "What? I thought you didn't want me to!?" Harry replied, sounding slightly confused. "Well, I knew it wouldn't stop you. I just wanted to sound like I was worried about you coming. I knew you could handle Voldemort!" Sirius told him, shaking his shaggy hair out of his eyes. Arthur and Molly Weasley came walked towards them from behind the gargoyles which guarded Dumbledore's office. "Oh, Ron, we're so glad you're alright!" Molly said, grabbing her son. "Harry! I heard what you did! That was mighty brave!" Mr. Weasley said, shaking Harry's hand. "Sirius! Nice to see you again!" Arthur greeted his old friend, shaking his hand vigorously. "Oh, Harry," Mrs. Weasley said, grabbing him into a giant hug. "Thanks, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said to her, smiling. She was like a mother to him. "Well, if you would all follow me, I think we need to have a little chat," Dumbledore said, pointing towards the entrance to his office.  
  
Entering the office, Harry noticed that several paintings were in discussion, talking about the rise of Voldemort. "Please take a seat," Dumbledore said, making several chairs appear out of thin air. They were one short. Harry did not have a seat. "Where's mine?" Harry asked. "Oh, well I thought you could make your own," Dumbledore told him, winking at him and laughing. "Creo Insumo," Harry said, thinking real hard about a nice comfy chair. What appeared was a cushioned leather chair on wheels. He sat down, and got several jealous glances at his chair. Harry smirked, and looked back at Dumbledore, who was now sitting behind his desk, using his wand to pluck several silver strands of hair, which Harry knew were memories, and he put them in his pensieve which Harry had seen him retrieve as they entered the room. "Now, I wish for you, Harry, to tell me all of the details of tonight's events," Dumbledore told him.  
  
"Well, first, me, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville all flew to the Ministry of Magic. They were all on brooms, I was in my phoenix shape. We got our badges, and were taken to the main lobby of the Ministry of Magic building. We managed to sneak past the security under my father's invisibility cloak. When we entered the spinning room of the Department of Mysteries, Hermione tried a door. It would not open, so she tried Alohomora, but that did not work. I knew that wasn't the door however, and I opened the one which I had the feeling was right. It turns out it was the right door, although now for certain reasons, I do wish I had not opened it. Voldemort," Harry began, the Weasleys gasping at the use of his name, "was waiting behind the door for me. He got in my mind, and now he thinks he knows the prophecy. But I was thinking a lie. He had no idea the information he got from my mind was false. He lost at his own mind game. He put me under the Cruciatus Curse, but let it go when Ron tried to stop him."  
  
"Ron! Oh, you could've gotten killed!" Mrs. Weasley interrupted. "Please Mrs. Weasley, I need to hear the rest of the story," Dumbledore told her. "Oh, yes Professor Dumbledore," Mrs. Weasley returned very politely. "Well, that's when I snuck off to get Sirius out. Voldemort had hung all of my friends by their feet from the ceiling, but they were let go. Basically all that happened after that was that the Order members showed up, and you know what happened then," Harry told Dumbledore. "Yes, but how did you save Sirius?" Dumbledore asked very curiously. "Well, I used a spell. Undorido Dethegath. A stag erupted from my wand, went behind the veil, and emerged moments later carrying Sirius," Harry told them. "Thank you Harry. Now, Sirius, can you please explain to me what is behind the veil?" Dumbledore said, turning his attention to Sirius. Harry saw that Dumbledore had been writing things down on a piece of parchment. "Well Albus, it's as if I was in heaven," Sirius told him, very relaxed and laid back.  
  
"Explain yourself," Dumbledore told Sirius, quite confused. "Well Albus, when I went through the veil, my body went into a sort of shock. I could not breathe, because there was no oxygen in the air, so I quickly used a charm that would supply my lungs with oxygen. Once I could breathe normal, I still could not see very well, as my vision was very blurry. After a little bit of time behind the veil, my vision became better, and I could see where I was. I was among the dead. I could see ghosts of many people, magical folk, and muggles. I even saw Lily and James. They looked so happy. I tried to wave to them, and talk to some of the ghosts, but it was as if they could not see me. My body was slowly becoming very weak, and I knew that I would soon be dead. But one thought kept my mind and body fighting against the, I guess you could say, virus which was in the air. It was infecting my body, slowly deteriorating my muscles. The thought that kept me alive was the thought of seeing my godson again. Harry was very lucky that he could save me before I died," Sirius explained.  
  
"Well, Sirius, I thank you for sharing with me your experience. Now, would you care to tell me if you saw any death eaters behind there?" Dumbledore asked Sirius. "Well Albus, it just so happens that I saw a number of them, including Barty Crouch Jr. You know, the one that was killed the night I escaped the Ministry," Sirius told him. "Ah, just as I suspected. Voldemort was trying to get some of his elite members back," Dumbledore said quietly, more to himself than the others. "Molly, why don't you escort the children and Sirius to Poppy in the hospital wing. I suspect they'll need a little patching up before doing any strenuous activities, like quidditch perhaps," Dumbledore said, winking at Harry. Harry thought about their quidditch game, which was just one month away, on December 8th. He would need to practice with the team very hard these next couple of weeks if he wanted to win.  
  
Molly helped them all to the hospital wing, Harry walking side by side with Sirius, who was limping, his right leg looking like it was broke. "Glad to have you back Sirius," Harry said to his godfather, smiling up at him. "And I'm glad to see you again Harry," Sirius said, smiling back at him. Sirius reached over and ruffled up Harry's hair a little bit. "Ah, you're looking more and more like James everyday," Sirius said, laughing. "Yeah, I get that a lot," Harry replied, laughing as well. Madame Pomfrey rushed to Harry's side and helped him into a bed as they entered the hospital wing. She followed by helping the other kids before making sure Sirius was safely in his own hospital bed at the end of the wing. Harry was separated from him by quite a distance, as he was on the total opposite end from Sirius.  
  
"Now Harry, I'm going to need to give you a few different potions," Madame Pomfrey told him, looking extremely worried. "This one is for your suffering during the Cruciatus Curse," she told him. "How did you know I was put under the Cruciatus Curse?" Harry asked her. "Well Harry, I am a registered nurse. I can tell what is going on inside your body from your symptoms," Madame Pomfrey replied, shooting a glance at him like she thought Harry thought she was stupid. "Oh," Harry replied, at a complete loss of words. "So, drink this cup," she said, handing Harry a small cup with about an ounce of liquid in it. It was a creamy yellow color, and it was very thick. "I'm supposed to do what with this stuff?" Harry asked her, a look of disgust on his face. "You'll drink it Mr. Potter if you know what's best for you," she said, shooting him a stern look. He did as he was commanded, and immediately wished he hadn't. The medicine was very horrible tasting. It was very slow going down his throat, and it was very cold. It seemed to freeze his throat as it slid down. "Yuck!" he thought to himself, "I can't believe she's making me drink this!"  
  
As it slid down his throat, he choked a little bit before it finally went down. "Okay, Mr. Potter. This last one is to give you back some of your energy, as it seems you lost a lot of it when you did that wandless magic," Madame Pomfrey told him. "How did you know I was using wandless magic?" Harry asked her. He was very puzzled by her knowledge. "Mr. Potter, for the last time, I am a registered nurse! I can tell by the way you act and look! Now, if you would please drink this fast. I need to get to my other patients!" she told him, her face turning as red as a cherry. Harry took the bottle of potion from her hands, and quickly drank it. It wasn't as bad as the other stuff, but it was still pretty bad. This one wasn't as thick. It was rather creamy, and went down in a heartbeat. However, it did not taste good at all. In fact, it tasted much like those vomit Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans. He had the displeasure of tasting one of those once in his days at Hogwarts. He sat the bottle on the small table beside his bed when he had finished taking the potion, and Madame Pomfrey was off to take care of Ron, Hermione, and the rest of the gang.  
  
He watched on as Ron and Hermione were given a slimy green potion. He could tell by the looks on their faces that it tasted just as bad as the ones he had taken. As he looked down to the end of the wing, he saw Sirius lying in his bed, reading what looked to be the back of a wrapper from a Honeyduke's chocolate bar. He had never read what was on the back of them, and never even knew there was anything on the back. He was puzzled by Sirius sudden interest in the package of chocolate. He shrugged it off and laid down on his bed, closing his eyes and drifting off into a deep sleep.  
  
His dream was once again very strange. He was once again dreaming through the eyes of Voldemort. He was in a single room in what looked to be Number 12 Grimmauld Place. It was a very dark room, no doubt part of the basement. There was one other person in the room, and that was Wormtail. He had remembered earlier in the year when Wormtail was caught in Diagon Alley. He heard Voldemort speak, saying something along the lines of, "Wormtail, we're going to get out of here. There's no way they can stop me, not with my powers." Harry heard the familiar cold laugh before waking up. There were people surrounding him, including Sirius, Lupin, Dumbledore, and Madame Pomfrey. He was lying on the floor. He had fallen off while he was dreaming. 


	20. Chapter Twenty Going Into Hiding

"Are you all right, Harry?" Lupin asked him, bending down to his side. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine. I'm fine," Harry told them, standing up, still shaking a little bit. "Poppy, I think Harry and I ought to have a little talk. Please Harry, come to my office," Dumbledore told Madame Pomfrey. "Yes Headmaster," Harry said, walking towards Dumbledore, who led him out of the hospital wing. They walked in silence, only briefly speaking a word to each other when Dumbledore asked him if he was all right walking. As they approached the gargoyles, Dumbledore spat out the password, and the gargoyles split apart. When they reached the door at the top of the staircase, they walked inside only to hear the whispers of the many portraits within the office. "Ah, it's Mr. Potter once again. I hear you have saved the last remaining member of my family. Thank you!" Harry heard the voice of Phineas Nigellus say to him. "Yes, it was my pleasure," Harry replied, trying to sound polite. If he was family to Sirius, then he was family to Harry.  
  
"Please, Harry, take a seat," Dumbledore told him, gesturing towards a chair. Harry complied with the Headmaster's wishes as he gladly took a seat in front of Dumbledore's desk. His legs were feeling very weak since he had the vision. "Harry, I need you to tell me exactly what happened back there," Dumbledore told him, a look of extreme seriousness on his face. "Yes, sir. Well, I had a dream, and I was once again seeing through the eyes of V-Voldemort. W-Wormtail was there too. And V-Voldemort said that they were going t-to b-b-break out," Harry said. "Ah, I see what you are saying. Well, it is time I called a meeting. Molly Weasley should be able to tell me what is going on," Dumbledore said, glancing at his watch. Harry did not know how Dumbledore used his watch. There were so many hands, but no numbers. He knew it didn't tell time, but he did not know what it did tell. Only a few moments later, Molly Weasley walked through the door with Moody, Kingsley, Snape, McGonagall, Lupin, and Tonks. "Ah, hello. I need to speak with you. Molly, who is watching over the house?" Dumbledore asked. "Well, we have Mundungus, Charlie, Bill, and a few others. I can't think of who else is there, but I know there are more," Mrs. Weasley replied. "Well then, it should be fine. Now, onto the bigger business," Dumbledore began. But before long, there was a knock at the door.  
  
"You may enter," Dumbledore said. Charlie Weasley came running into the office panting. "Voldemort...escaped....Others....are wounded...." Charlie forced out before collapsing to the ground. He was bleeding from his stomach badly. "Molly, hury and take him to Poppy. Everyone else, come with me," Dumbledore said. This was one of the only times in his life that Harry had seen Dumbledore furious. Harry knew exactly why. He had finally managed to capture Voldemort, but he slipped right out of Dumbledore's hands. They hurried down to the Great Hall where they were going to use floo powder to get to Number 12 Grimmauld Place. "You first, Harry," Dumbledore told him, giving him a pinch of floo powder. Harry took the powder, and threw it into the fire. "Number 12 Grimmauld Place!" Harry shouted, stepping into the whirl of flames. He was whisked away through the fire, swirling until he reached his final destination. He saw Bill Weasley lying on the floor, clutching his head.  
  
As he turned towards the door of the room, he saw Wormtail running. "Stupefy!" Harry shouted. Peter Pettigrew fell to the ground. "You're not getting away from me again," Harry said to the stunned body of Peter Pettigrew. But he too fell to the ground in pain. His scar was burning. He knew Voldemort was around him somewhere. "Harry! Are you all right?" he heard Lupin's voice say. "Yes, I'm fine," Harry said, standing up. The pain was gone. Voldemort had escaped for good. "Nice work Harry. I knew you wouldn't let him get away again," Lupin said, smiling. "But unfortunately, Voldemort did get away," Harry replied. "Ah, but we have Peter here. We can just ask him," Lupin said, smiling once more. Harry heard Moody, Kingsley, Tonks, Snape, and McGonagall all talking behind him with Dumbledore. "Come on Harry, let's go see what's going on," Lupin said, helping him over to where the rest of the group was standing. "Poppy will be here soon to take care of the injured. Alastor, please see if you can find anything out about how they escaped. Severus, I'm going to need you to make some Veritaserum, so we can have a little chat with Peter," Dumbledore instructed the group. "See Harry, everything will be just fine," Lupin told Harry, bringing him into a hug.  
  
"Harry, how are you feeling?" Dumbledore asked him, putting a hand on Harry's shoulder. "I'm feeling all right. My scar still hurts a little bit though. Voldemort must be mad," Harry told him. "Okay, well, why don't you go get some rest up in your room," Dumbledore replied, pointing up the stairs. It had been a while since Harry had last been here, but he knew that this was his real home. It was where he belonged. He walked slowly up the stairs towards the room he had stayed in earlier that year, his head was lowered and he was stairing at the floor of the house. Voldemort had been in his grasp. He had almost conquered his enemy, but Voldemort somehow slipped out of his fingers. As he entered the room, he saw Buckbeak lying on the floor. He looked saddened, and was letting out a very strange cry. "It's okay Bucky," Harry told the bird, sitting down next to Buckbeak. He began stroking the bird's wing, assuring it that everything would be fine. "What's wrong Bucky?" Harry heard a voice say. He looked up and saw Sirius standing in the doorway smiling. "It's good to be home, isn't it Harry?" Sirius said, taking in the surroundings. "Oh, how I miss this place," Sirius laughed. "I thought you hated it here?" Harry asked him. "Ah, I did. But, now my mother's picture is gone, so I think everything will be all right," Sirius replied. Buckbeak was now standing on its legs, staring at Sirius. It was very happy to see its friend again. Harry could have sworn he saw tears drip down from Buckbeak's eyes. "Harry, you need to get some rest. You look horrible. I'll leave you alone here," Sirius said, closing the door. As he did, Harry jumped onto the bed and laid his head back. It was only a matter of minutes before he fell asleep on the pillow.   
  
"Harry! Wake up! We need your help!" Lupin said, shaking his adoptive son awake. "What? What's happening?" Harry said, sitting upright. "Madame Pomfrey requests all help she can get with looking after the patients," Lupin told him. "The patients?" Harry asked. He was quite befuddled. "Yes, when Voldemort escaped, he managed to injure many Order members, and Poppy needs help looking after some of them," Lupin replied. "Oh, all right. I'll be right down," Harry said, pulling the covers off of him. He looked out the window to see the sun shining on his face. He rubbed the crust out of his eyes, and stood up out of his bed. As he opened the door, he saw his two friends smiling at him. "Why are you here?" Harry asked them. "What? Are we not allowed to be worried about our best friend?" Ron replied, laughing. "Shouldn't you be in school?" Harry asked them. "Harry, it's Sunday," Hermione told him, looking at him as if he were stupid. "Oh, yeah...right," Harry laughed, scratching his head. "Sorry about that, I kinda lost track of time," he said, laughing very hard. "C'mon Harry. Madame Pomfrey needs our help," Hermione replied, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him down the hallway. As they walked down the steps, he saw Madame Pomfrey caring for at least seven members of the Order, who were all lying on beds that had no doubt been conjured not too long ago. Charlie, Bill, and Mundungus were all included in the group of injured people.  
  
"What happened to them all?" Harry asked. He was in shock. He couldn't believe all of these people were injured. "Well, Harry, they were all harmed when Voldemort escaped," Hermione told him. Ron gasped when he heard the name. "Oh, cool it Ron. It's just a name. Get used to it!" Hermione replied, rolling her eyes. "Madame Pomfrey! What do you need me to do. I'll do anything to help them," Harry said to the nurse. "Well Mr. Potter, you can start by getting some pillows for the patients," Madame Pomfrey replied. "Very well," Harry said, whipping out his wand. "Creo Insumo!" Harry said, thinking very hard about soft fluffy pillows. Seconds later, seven pillows appeared on the floor, just as Harry had imagined them. He put one under the head of each of the injured Order members. "There we go, that ought to help," Hary said, smiling at the work he had done.  
  
"Harry, come on in here. I need to speak with you," Dumbledore said, his face as pale white as a ghost. "Yes Professor Dumbledore?" Harry asked, walking through the door of the kitchen. Dumbledore closed the door as Harry entered. "Harry, we need to tell you something important," Dumbledore said. "What is it?" Harry asked, getting very nervous. "Well Harry, it seems that Voldemort has now found out more information about the prophecy. He now knows about the part of the prophecy that states you have powers greater than he imagines. He knows he must watch out for you, and that you are a threat to him," Dumbledore told him. "What? How did he find this out?!" Harry yelled. "Well Harry, I'm afraid he overheard a certain Mundungus Fletcher talking about the prophecy," Dumbledore answered. "I'm sorry Harry," a voice came from behind him. Mundungus was walking through the door of the kitchen, limping on his right leg. There was a bandage on his forehead that looked pretty bloody, and Harry saw that his lip had been busted open. "I'm really sorry. I didn't know he would be able to hear me. I didn't know he was escaping," he told Harry, his head lowered to the ground. For once, he wasn't thinking about himself. He was actually worried about the survival of another person.  
  
"How could you be so foolish?!" Harry yelled at him. "I'm sorry! I really did not mean for him to hear me talking! I swear!" Mundungus replied, backing up into one of the corners of the room. His eyes were swelling up with tears, and Harry could see he didn't really mean for Voldemort to find out. "It's all right Dung. I'm sorry for yelling. It's just that, now that Voldemort knows what's in the prophecy, he'll be prepared for anything a lash out at him. I'm sorry. The whole thing has just got me all worked up and angry," Harry told him. He watched as Mundungus walked back towards Harry, and threw his arms around him. Was this really happening? Was Mundungus Fletcher, the big ol' tough guy really giving him a hug? He laughed when he realized that all Mundungus was really doing was trying to steal some galleons out of his back pockets. He pretended as if he didn't noticed, and he laughed when Mundungus walked out of the kitchen.   
  
"Now, Harry, please take a seat. There are still some matters I need to discuss with you," Dumbledore told him. At that moment, McGonagall, Lupin, Sirius, Tonks, and Moody showed up at Dumbledore's side. "Like what?" Harry asked. "Well, we believe that Voldemort now knows the identity of several Order members, and just like last time, he plans to kill them, along with their family. Mrs. Weasley was one of these people, along with her sons Charlie and Bill. We have taken Ron from Hogwarts for a little while. They will be staying some place else, where nobody will be able to find them. Now, you mustn't speak a word of this to anyone, including Hermione. Nobody must know that the Weasley's are off some place in hiding, much like your parents were," Dumbledore told him. The others nodded in agreement.   
  
"And Harry, once again, I would like to congratulate you on a job well done at the Ministry," Moody added, winking at him with his normal eye. His other eye swivelled in its socket towards the door. "We have an eavesdropper," Moody said, turning towards the door. Harry looked to the door, and saw the face of his other best friend, Hermione Granger. Tears were running down her face as if it was the end of the world. Harry knew she had heard the whole entire conversation about Ron's family. 


	21. Chapter TwentyOne The Warning

He saw Hermione begin running away from the door, tears still streaming down her face. "Hermione! Wait!" Harry shouted after her, running out the door of the kitchen. He got to the door of the house, and he saw Hermione already half-way up the street. He ran outside and ran after her as fast as he could. "Hermione! Stop running!" Harry yelled. She looked back at him before collapsing to the ground on a sidewalk. Harry caught up to her, and stood near where she was kneeling on the ground. "Hermione, listen to me. I know how you feel, he was my best friend too. But everything will work out fine! I promise! The Order is going to make sure nothing bad happens!" Harry told her. looking into her eyes. "Trust me Hermione. Everything will be fine," he assured her.  
  
He helped her up off the ground, and walked her back towards the house at Number 12 Grimmauld Place. "Now, you should go get some rest," Harry told her once they had entered the house. She went up the stairs to the room she always slept in, and slammed the door behind her. Harry could tell she was still very upset, and she had every reason to be upset. After all, one of her best friends was in hiding from the most powerful dark wizard to walk this planet. Harry stood there staring at her door for a few minutes before walking off. He knew how she felt about Ron. He felt the same way about Ginny. Harry knew there was a chance he would never be able to see her again, and he really wished he would be able to be in her presence one last time. "Harry! C'mon in here," Sirius shouted, interrupting his thoughts about Ginny. "Oh, yes, of course. I'm coming," Harry replied, walking towards the kitchen.  
  
Sirius was the only one left in the kitchen. Harry figured the rest of the Order members had finished their discussion without him. "Harry, I just want to thank you one more time for saving me. You're just like your father, always looking out for your friends," Sirius said, smiling at Harry. Just then, Harry got an idea. "Sirius, I got you back from the realm of the dead, right?" Harry asked him. "Umm...yeah. Why?" Sirius asked. He was quite confused by Harry's sudden train of thought. "Well, doesn't that mean that I can bring my parents back from the realm of the dead?" Harry said. "Harry, I know what you're thinking. And the answer is no. You see, I wasn't dead when you brought me back. I was just stuck in that realm, but I was not yet dead. Your parents on the other hand, are dead," Sirius replied. Harry buried his head in his hands for a few moments before going back up to his room to get some rest.  
  
When he entered his room, he saw an owl on his bed with a letter in his hand. Carefully he untied the letter from it's leg, and watched as the owl flew right out his window. "I wonder who this is from..." he thought to himself. He unrolled the peace of parchment, and read the letter quietly to himself.  
  
Harry~  
  
We have good news, and we have bad news for you. You know how we told you we were taking Zonko to court? Well, we did. The trial was the other day. We won the case, and they are granting us 200,000 galleons! Can you believe it?!  
  
Harry gasped when he read that. "Two-hundred thousand galleons?! Wow!" he thought to himself. His face lit up brightly as he thought of all of the things Fred and George would be able to do now. He was happy for the twins. He saw there was more to the letter, so he went on reading.  
  
The bad news is that Zonko will no longer have a shop in Hogsmeade. We're sorry you won't have a place to go for all of your prankster needs, but we have enclosed several order forms for you to use for our store. Don't forget, you still have your 40% discount! Have fun, and send Peeves our regards!  
  
~Fred and George Weasley  
  
P.S. Give Filch hell!  
  
Harry sat the letter on his bed, and grabbed one of the order forms. He quickly scratched some info down on the form and ordered some fireworks, a portable swamp, and some Skiving Snackboxes. He laughed as he tied the letter to Hedwig's leg, and sent Hedwig off to deliver the letter. Buckbeak was sitting on the floor, his eyes wide awake. He was staring at Harry with a big smile on his face. "Happy Sirius is home, aren't you?" Harry said to the bird. It looked as if Buckbeak was nodding in reply. "So am I, Bucky. So am I..." he replied.  
  
Weeks went by in a blur. The Order members had all been restored to full health, and the anticipation of the Ravenclaw game grew even more. It was only two days away, and Harry was getting more nervous by the minute. This was just one more thing he had to be worried about, stacked on top of all of his other worries. The threat of Lord Voldemort trying to kill him again was becoming stronger, especially since he had nearly escaped the grasp of the Order of the Phoenix. There were many rumors going around the school about where Ron and Ginny had disappeared to. Only Harry and Hermione really knew what was going on. Harry hadn't heard anything from Fred and George since he had sent them the letter, thus leading Harry to conclude that they too had gone into hiding with their family. Harry had found a replacement for Keeper for the game, and that was a kid named Euan Abercrombie. Harry did not know how he would do under the pressure of the game, but he was quite impressed by the kid's abilities during practice. Everybody else was doing fine, especially since Hermione had brewed enough of the stress relieving potion for everyone on the team.  
  
On Saturday, Harry received a letter from Pidwidgeon. It was from Ron.  
  
Harry~  
  
I'm sorry to tell you this, I know it'll probably make you very upset, but I'm afraid to say that Bill was killed. The whole family is devastated, and I just thought you ought to know. HE sent men after us and HIS men killed Bill, who put his life on the line to make sure the rest of us got out safely. Please, do not tell Hermione what has happened; I know it will only make her more saddened than she already is.  
  
~Ron  
  
P.S. Take care of Hermione for me.  
  
There were tear drops on the parchment, and the writing was very shaky. Just when Harry thought nothing could've made his life worse, something like this had to happen. It was obvious to Harry who HE was. Ron had meant that Voldemort's Death Eaters had killed his brother.  
  
"Oh my god," Harry thought to himself, tears welling up in his eyes. "I wonder if Dumbledore knows? Oh, that's a stupid question. Of course Dumbledore knows," Harry reminded himself. He left the Great Hall in a hurry, and Hermione chased after him. "What's wrong?" she called after him. Harry just chose to ignore her. He broke into a fast pace, running towards the common room. When he arrived, he went up to the dormitory and laid down on his bed. There couldn't have been a worse time for something like this to happen. With the growing threat of the Ravenclaw game the next day, Harry did not need anything like this to be happening to him. This had broken him up inside. He surely wouldn't be able to play the game the next day as well as he normally did. "What's wrong, Harry?" he heard someone ask. He sat up in his bed, and saw Neville Longbottom sitting in his own bed. "Oh, hey Neville," Harry said. His voice was very soft, and anybody could tell that something horrible was wrong. "I'm sorry Neville, but I don't think I'm allowed to be telling anybody," Harry replied. "Oh, it's something to do with the Order, isn't it?" Neville asked. "How do you know about the Order?" Harry assked. "Oh, well, my grandma tells me all about it. She knows my parents were part of it, and she tells me all about what they used to do for the Order," Neville told him. "Oh, well, yeah. It does have something to do with the Order," Harry replied. "Okay, then I guess I understand why you can't tell," Neville replied.  
  
"So, Neville, I was thinking about restarting the D.A. next Saturday. Would you be interested in it again?" Harry asked him, trying to change the conversation. "Of course!" Neville told him. "Alright then, tell some people about it. We'll meet in the Three Broomsticks next Saturday during the Hogsmeade trip," Harry replied. "Okay! I'll spread the word!" Neville said, his smile growing across his face. He left the room, leaving Harry there in the dormitory. Harry sat there for a little bit before grabbing a photo album from his trunk. It was full of pictures from over the years of Ron, Hermione, and all of his other friends. He saw many pictures where he and Ron were having tons of fun, like the summer he spent with the Weasley's at the Burrow. He saw Bill in many of the pictures, but he was forced to turn the page to keep himself from getting too depressed. Hermione walked in on him, and he hurriedly put the photo album away. "Hey Hermione!" exclaimed Harry, who was trying to put a fake smile on his face. "Harry, don't try to look happy. I know there is something in that letter that you don't want to tell me. Now, I understand if it is something private that you don't want to tell me, but you shouldn't bottle up all of your feelings like this," Hermione told him. "Hermione, you'll know soon enough. You're bound to find out sooner or later. But I'm just not the one to be telling you this. Now, let's go outside. I need to get some air," Harry told her, getting up and walking out of the dormitory.  
  
They walked outside of the school building and began talking about reinstating the D.A. "I think it's a wonderful idea, Harry!" Hermione told him. "Yes, and I was wondering if you would want to be maybe a sort of co-teacher sometimes. I mean, you're great at magic as well," Harry replied, making Hermione blush. "Well, I wouldn't say [I]that[/I]," she told him. It was at that moment that a first year girl walked up to Harry. "Hello Harry," the girl said. Harry had an odd feeling that he had met her before, but he wasn't quite sure where. "Hello," Harry replied, trying to act as if he knew who she was. "I just wanted to warn you about Draco Malfoy. Stay away from him at all times! He is planning something very evil!" the girl told him. "Well, Malfoy's always planning something evil that has to do with [I]me[/I]. There's no surprise there," Harry replied. "Yes, but this is something extremely worse than anything he's ever done!" she exclaimed. "Oh, and how do you know this?" Harry asked her, rolling his eyes. "Because. I'm his sister," she told him. This would be the point in cartoons where the character's jaw drops ten feet and crashes to the ground. Harry was shocked. Why would she be warning him? She's a Malfoy! Should he trust her?  
  
"Why should I believe you? What makes you different from the rest of your family?" Harry asked her. "Because, I hate my family!" she told him, "I'm not even in Slytherin." "Really?" Harry replied. He still did not believe that she wasn't like the rest of her family. He knew if she was this different from the Malfoy's that her life must've been hell while living at home. "Yes, really. I'm in Ravenclaw," she told him. "Oh, I didn't know that," he said. "Well, I must be going now," she told him before walking off towards the school. "Well, that was certainly strange," Hermione said to Harry. "Yes, kind of freaked me out," Harry agreed. "Let's go talk to Hagrid," Hermione suggested. "Alright, sounds good to me," Harry replied. They walked down the path towards Hagrid's cabin. From far away, they could hear Fang barking loudly and they knew something must've been happening inside. 


	22. Chapter TwentyTwo Gryffindor Versus Rave...

They rushed off to the cabin at the sound of the barking. Harry and Hermione finally reached the door, but by the time they did, the barking had stopped. They flung open the door to reveal Fang's body lying on the floor of the cabin. A dementor was leaning over top of Hagrid with its hood lowered, ready to administer the dementor's kiss. "Expecto patronum!" Harry yelled, pointing his wand at the dementor. A silver stag erupted from the end of his wand, and Harry watched as it charged straight for the dementor. Harry saw the dementor vanish from the cabin, and Hagrid's body fell to the floor with a thud. "I'll be right back. I'm gonna go get Dumbledore," Harry told her. He transformed into his phoenix shape, and took off out the window. He flew right for the window to Dumbledore's office, and opened the window with his beak. He flew inside, and landed on the chair in front of Dumbledore's desk. He transformed back into his normal state at which point Dumbledore looked up from what he was doing. "Dumbledore! Come quick, Hagrid's hurt!" Harry told him. He and Dumbledore rushed out of the office and across the grounds to Hagrid's cabin.   
  
They slammed the door open, and saw Hermione standing over Hagrid crying. "We have to get Poppy down here. Hermione, do me a favor and go get Madame Pomfrey. Tell her Hagrid's been hurt," Dumbledore told her. He walked over to Hagrid's body, and began looking it over. "Well, it doesn't seem to be too bad. He's just had some major flashbacks. By the looks of it, they were horrible. Look at his eyes, they're all swelled up," Dumbledore told Harry. Harry knew what Hagrid had gone through. He had been through it several times in his encounters with dementors. They had sucked all the good out of him, and left him only with memories of his parents dying. They were horrible memories, memories he never wanted to remember. Madame Pomfrey walked in the door minutes later, a stretcher already conjured. She lifted Hagrid up with her wand, and moved him onto the stretcher. Then she wheeled him off to the school without saying a single word to neither Dumbledore nor Harry. The rest of the day Harry spent in the common room talking to the rest of the quidditch team including Euan and Jack Sloper, who was substituting for Ginny.  
  
The day flew by very quickly, although Harry and Hermione were constantly discussing what had happened to Hagrid. Harry knew there was going to be an Order meeting that night so he promised Hermione he would tell her anything he found out about the attack on Hagrid. But the first thing on his mind was the quidditch game. When they walked out on the field for the first time that day, Harry knew it was going to be a great game. The sky was clear, the sun wasn't too bright, and there was barely any wind at all. He looked across the field and saw the Ravenclaw team begin to walk onto the grass with their broomsticks. The teams lined up in position on their sides, and Madame Hooch came strolling onto the field. "Gentlemen, please shake hands," she told the team captains. Harry shook the captain's hand, and Madame Hooch blew her whistle. Harry and his team flew up into the air along with the Ravenclaw team. Harry could see Cho on her broomstick. She still did not look all that well with her face very pale, and a frown on her face. Harry knew he must stop concentrating on Cho, but instead on the game and finding the snitch.   
  
He flew around in circles as he listened to the commentator speak about the game. "Granger with the quaffle, passes to Graves, GRAVES SCORES! Gryffindor 10-0," he heard the voice say. He cheered along with the fans as he continued to fly around the field in hopes of catching a glimpse of the golden snitch. But then he heard something he didn't want to hear. "RAVENCLAW SCORES! The game is tied up at 10-10." "Aw man, c'mon guys! We need to win this!" Harry yelled down to his teammates. "And here's Sloper with the quaffle. Passes to Granger who passes to Graves. Graves back to Sloper, Sloper back to Graves. GRAVES SCORES! Gryffindor up 20-10!" the commentator shouted into the microphone. Harry watched as several more shots were put through by both teams. And then finally he saw it. The snitch was floating near the middle Ravenclaw goal post. He flew down the quidditch pitch, Cho flying behind him and rapidly losing ground on Harry. Harry knew it wasn't a challenge for him to get the snitch. He outstretched his hand and grabbed the golden snitch from where it was hovering a mere six inches from the feet of the Ravenclaw Keeper. He had done it; he had won the game.  
  
He landed on the ground and moments later, the whole team had rushed over and picked him up off the ground. They carried him off towards the locker rooms to the sound of many Gryffindors cheering. The Slytherins and Ravenclaws were booing, but much of their noise had been drowned out by the sound of the Gryffindors showing support for their team. The Hufflepuffs really did not have any preference in the match, so their section was mostly empty except for a few students who were ecstatic to see any match. The Gryffindor team hurriedly changed out of their quidditch robes and got into their normal clothes before heading back up to the stands to meet up with their other non-quidditch-playing friends. Normally, Harry would be celebrating with Ron after a victory, but Ron was not here which made Harry feel very bad about Ron. He felt sorry for Ron having to go into hiding, and he knew that Ron would have been overly excited of this Gryffindor win. Instead, Harry was celebrating with Hermione, though it was not as fun as it would've been to hang out with Ron.  
  
They went on back to the now full common room where kids were running around gleefully with huge grins on their faces as they partied in celebration of Gryffindor's second win of the three-game season. There was only one match to go in this year's season, and that would be the hardest game to win. Slytherin had always been their rivals and for the past two years, Gryffindor had managed to pull off not only a victory over Slytherin, but also winning the Quidditch Cup. Dean and Seamus could be found in one corner of the common room talking very intensely with Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown. Harry was now sitting alone in one corner of the room staring at a book full of information about wandless magic. "Harry, c'mon. Get up and have some fun!" Neville said as he pushed his way through the immense crowd. "I'm not really in the mood tonight, Neville," Harry replied, not taking his eyes off the book. He wasn't really interested in the book though. He wasn't even really reading. He was just trying to look busy so nobody would bother him. Obviously it wasn't working though, as now there were three or four other people bugging him to get up.  
  
"I'm not in the mood!" Harry repeated, this time a little too loudly. Half of the common room was now staring him straight in the face. He grabbed his book and went up to his dormitory, tired of people bothering him. "Why didn't I come up here before?" he thought to himself, lying down on his bed. Moments later, Hermione came strolling into the room. "What's wrong, Harry? You're normally so happy after quidditch matches! You and Ron always have so much fun....Oh, it's Ron, isn't it?" she asked. "It's none of your business. Why don't you go talk to your friends down at the party. You can borrow my invisibility cloak and go get some butter beer from Hogsmeade if you want," Harry suggested, putting his book down on his chest for the first time that night. "Well, it won't be any fun if you're not there. You're the hero of the game! You're the reason we won!" Hermione told him, trying to cheer him up. "Hermione, just leave me alone, okay. I really don't want to talk. Just let me rest. Everything is fine," Harry returned, picking his book back up. "Whatever Harry. You know where I'll be if you need to find me though," she said, pointing out the door towards the common room. He watched as she walked out of the dormitory before he threw the book down on the floor and laid his head back on his pillow.  
  
He began thinking about what Ron and the Weasley's were probably doing at that moment before he realized that the Order meeting was just about ready to start. He ran out of the dormitory and through the crowd still gathered in the common room. The crowd was beginning to dwindle down, but there was still quite a bit of people in small groups around the common room chatting about various items. He rushed through the groups of friends and through the portrait hole. He broke into a run as he went down one of the many moving staircases in an attempt to get to the meeting on time, rather than being late and getting yelled at by some of the more non-lenient members of the Order. He had finally reached the entrance to Dumbledore's office, the gargoyles. "Skiving Snackboxes!" Harry yelled at the gargoyles. They split apart, revealing a spiraling staircase that Harry knew led to Dumbledore's office door. He ran up to the door and was about ready to knock when the door flung open. "Welcome, Harry," Moody greeted him, beckoning him to walk inside the office. Harry was getting quite used to Moody being able to tell when he was about ready to join the Order meeting. Moody had done it several times that year, and today was no exception.  
  
"If you all would kindly take a seat, this meeting of the Order of the Phoenix will begin," Dumbledore said. Harry noticed a very nervous looking Arthur Weasley in the corner, and Harry realized something. Mr. Weasley must not have been in hiding with his family. After all, he was the Minister of Magic, who would take his place? Tonks was there, along with Lupin, Sirius, Kingsley, Professor McGonagall, Ms. Figg, and, of course, Harry's least favorite teacher, Professor Severus Snape. "Firstly, I would like to discuss a particular event that has happened earlier today. Our dear Hagrid was attacked in his cabin by a dementor. He was about to receive the Dementor's Kiss when Mr. Potter here barged into the cabin and used the Patronus Charm to extinguish the dementor. Thanks to Harry, Hagrid is recovering well in the hospital wing, with only minor trauma. It seems a though Hagrid relived some pretty bad memories," Dumbledore began informing the crowd. Many heads turned to look at Harry, and Moody gave him the thumbs up. Lupin clapped him on the back and said, "Heh, it's times like these that I'm proud to have adopted you." He smiled at Lupin, and turned his attention back to Dumbledore.  
  
"Now, onto our next area of business. Moody, inform us what you have found out about who has joined the ranks of Voldemort," Dumbledore said, turning his face to one of his most loyal friends. "Well, it seems that a few new people have joined Voldemort's ranks. Marcus Flint, former Slytherin prefect and former Quidditch Captain, has become a Death Eater, along with Percy Weasley who was fired from his job at the Ministry," Moody told the group. At this, Harry turned to face Arthur Weasley. Mr. Weasley's face was very pale, and Harry knew he was ashamed of his son. He did not know what else was going through Mr. Weasley's head, but Harry knew that there were mixed emotions and thoughts going through his mind. The rest of his family, excluding Percy and Bill, was in hiding, trying to avoid Voldemort. One of his sons, Bill, was killed by Death Eaters, and to top it all off, another of his sons had become a Death Eater. "Also, several giants have betrayed our trust and have joined Voldemort's cause. One of these giants includes Hagrid's mother, a very strong female giant," Moody finished explaining to the Order members. "Thank you, Alastor. That was very informative. Now, onto our next order of business," Dumbledore said.  
  
"Sirius, Lupin, Tonks, what have you found out about the veil?" Dumbledore asked. "Well, we found that the veil does indeed go to a place in the next realm, the realm of the dead. Sirius is going to explain what he experienced when he was behind the veil," Lupin said. "Well, it definitely felt as if I was in the next realm. I saw some people I knew were dead, like Lily and James Potter. But they obviously could not see me. The air behind there was lacking oxygen and I presume it was mostly carbon dioxide which is not a suitable atmosphere for a human being. I was lucky Harry saved me when he did or else I would have suffocated because of the air," Sirius explained. "Yes, and we have found a lot of information on the creator of the veil. It was created by an ancestor of Salazar Slytherin himself, which means that Voldemort is also connected to the person who created the veil. We don't think that Voldemort knows this information, so we plan to keep it quiet so he does not find out. We know we will probably find that there is a connection between the realm behind the veil and Voldemort's mind, giving Voldemort just one more power we do not have. This is something we do not need, so please try to keep this information quiet as you should do with all other information given at these meetings of the Order of the Phoenix," Tonks told the crowd. "Thank you Tonks. Now, I understand Kingsley has something to say, and he'll be the last person to talk before I do," Dumbledore said.  
  
"Yes, I have more information about the break-in that occurred a while back. There was another attempted robbery, but luckily I was in the vault and was able to stop the robber. He was looking for the Veil of Mystery, the veil which was supposed to be a replica of the veil found in the Department of Mysteries. Of course, this veil does not work the same, but it uses the same theories. I took him to the headquarters, and used some Veritaserum that Severus brewed for me in order to question him. I found that he was the same person who broke in the last time, it was Mr. Goyle whose son is a Slytherin in Harry's year. We are still questioning him, so I will update you when we are finished," Kingsley concluded. Harry wasn't really paying any attention to the part when Kingsley started talking about bringing the man back to headquarters. Kingsley always had that same boring monotone voice that nobody really wanted to listen to, and Harry was just the same as everybody else. The way Kingsley talked bored him to death and almost caused him to fall asleep.  
  
"Alright, that sums up what all of you have been doing for the past few weeks time. I would like to say thank you for all you have been doing. It has all helped us out in our cause, and without you doing even the smallest of assignments, Voldemort would be free to roam around this country and slaughter non-purebloods and Muggles. We will meet again in a few weeks time, unless something else urgent happens before then. I will keep in contact with you all. Kingsley, continue to question him. Alastor, please help him. Tonks, Lupin, you need to continue researching the veil. Sirius, I'm going to need you to join the team of watchmen for Harry. Arthur, please do not worry. We have a few of our best men with your family helping them. We need you to stay strong during these hard times and do your best job as Minister of Magic. Harry, I need to speak with you after the meeting. Everybody else is free to go," Dumbledore said, giving another speech everybody was attentive to. No matter what the subject was, everybody always paid full attention to Dumbledore when he was speaking. He could have been talking about flobberworms, and what they eat, and the Order members would take great interest in what he was saying. Harry supposed it was because Dumbledore was such a noble man.  
  
"Harry, please take a seat. This shouldn't be too long," Dumbledore told him, gesturing towards the nice fluffy seat in fron of his desk. "Thank you Professor Dumbledore," Harry replied, taking a seat. "Harry, why didn't you kill the dementor? You have found you have the power to do so, so why didn't you kill the one trying to kill Hagrid?" Dumbledore asked him. "Umm...I don't know, Professor. I guess I just wasn't thinking," Harry answered. "Ah, okay Harry. Listen, I have a request to make. If you are ever in the room with a dementor, please kill it. I'm sorry if I sound too harsh, or if I'm asking too much of you, but it would do the Order a great deal of justice. It would help us out a lot, Harry," Dumbledore told him. "Sorry Professor. I don't know if I really want to kill them though. The idea of killing something just doesn't seem right to me," Harry replied. "Harry, how are you supposed to get rid of Voldemort then?" Dumbledore inquired. "Err...I guess you're right. And, I mean, I would be helping the Order out greatly. So, I guess I could try," Harry told his Headmaster. "Thank you, Harry. Now, why don't you go get some sleep. You'll need it for classes tomorrow," Dumbledore told him, ushering him towards the door. Harry walked silently back to the common room. He passed Professor McGonagall on the way, but he did not stop to say 'hi'. All he could do was think about Dumbledore's request. No matter what he did, he could not shake the thought. It just didn't seem like something Dumbledore would say. 


	23. Chapter TwentyThree Reinstating The DA

As he lie in bed that night, he heard those words in his head, repeated over and over. "Just kill them, Harry. Just kill them." "No! I will not just kill them! That's what Voldemort wants me to do! It'll make me weak, and leave me free to be attacked at any moment. I will not kill them!" he thought. "But then why was Dumbledore telling me to do so? Jealousy? Is he jealous that I might be the one to take care of the Dark Lord and not him? Nah, Dumbledore's never jealous." Harry was still trying to come up with an explanation when he heard a tapping on his window. He looked up to see Pigwigdeon with a letter tied to his legs. He opened the window and let the wet bird inside. After untying the letter, he let the bird fly down to the Owlery to get some rest. Harry picked up the letter and read it to himself.   
  
Harry   
  
Kingsley tells me that you guys won the quidditch game without me and Ginny! Nice job! I will be coming back in about a week. Don't worry. Everybody's fine right now. Just a little upset about the untimely death of Bill. Make sure Hermione's doing alright for me. I'll tell her everything that has happened when I get back. That way she'll know I'm alright. I don't want her worrying about me.   
  
Ron   
  
He placed the letter in a box under his bed and laid back down on top of his covers. He was rather hot, so he did not sleep under the covers, that would just make him sweat even more. He listened to the sound of the rain drops falling from the sky as he closed his eyes and drifted asleep, dreaming about the day to come when the D.A. would hopefully be started up again.   
  
When he awoke, Neville was standing above him, prodding him gently with his finger. "C'mon Harry! You slept through breakfast! It's time to leave for Hogsmeade!" Neville told him, his face brightening up. Harry sat up in his bed and pushed his hair out of his eyes. His hair was becoming quite greasy, but not anywhere as greasy as Snape's. He hopped out of bed and pulled some clothes on, not bothering to worry about what he was wearing. He grabbed some money before leaving. As he walked down the stairs to the common room with Neville, he saw Hermione and Lavender talking on the sofa, no doubt waiting for Harry. "Hey guys," Harry greeted them, walking over to Hermione's side. "Hey Harry," the two girls both replied. "Ready to go down to Hogsmeade?" he asked them. "Of course!" Hermione told him, jumping up from her seat. Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Lavender all headed out to Hogsmeade, stopping briefly at the gates to assure Filch they had permission.  
  
Their first stop was Honeyduke's. Hermione was having a craving for chocolate for a reason unknown to Harry. While there, he decided to buy some more chocolate frogs and a few bars of Honeyduke's chocolate. He had always loved it. It was absolutely the best chocolate he had ever tasted before. The Dursley's, when they were still alive, had fed him chocolate on rare occasions, and he had managed to sneak to his cupboard under the stairs with a few pieces of Dudley's birthday chocolate one time. But the chocolate he had tasted while with the Dursley's wasn't even all that great; it was nothing compared to the rich taste of Honeyduke's chocolate. His collection of chocolate frog cards was getting quite extensive, and he thought it wouldn't hurt to buy a few chocolate frogs to see if there were any new cards he could find. When he was satisfied with the amount of chocolate he had bought, they left the store, and headed off for the Three Broomsticks.  
  
To Harry's knowledge, there wasn't even anywhere else he really wanted to go. Zonko's was closed now, but even if they were open, Harry wouldn't shop there. He would much rather order pranks from Fred and George; those pranks were of higher quality, and plus, he got a discount. As they entered the Three Broomsticks, they found a seat near the fireplace, and sat down. Madame Rosmerta came over moments later, and took their order personally. Of course, the only thing Harry, Hermione, and Neville ordered was three bottles of butterbeer; one for each of the three friends. "There's just something about this stuff that always seems to cheer me up. It tastes so warm as it slides down your throat, and it makes you feel all happy inside. It's a wonderful thing, don't you think?" Hermione said. The others agreed, and they each took a big gulp from the butterbeer bottle.  
  
Only about ten minutes later, hoards of Hogwarts students came piling into the Three Broomsticks, all gathering in a circle around Harry, who was surprised at the number of people who had turned up. He felt like the main character of a major broadway show. Everyone's eyes were upon him, and he was more nervous than he had been in a long time. "Um...As you know, I'm thinking of starting up the D.A. again," Harry began. "So, we'll be meeting in the Room of Requirement again. Those of you who are new, you can just follow one of the other older members to the place of meeting in order to find your way inside. I hope the others remember how to get there. Right now, Hermione's handing out fake galleons. If there is a meeting coming up, you will feel it get warm. Inscribed around the edges is the time and date of the meeting to take place. We will be starting next Saturday, as I feel that will give me, your instructor, and Hermione, a sort of co-teacher, a chance to plan the first lesson, which will be on disarming spells. Now, I do believe that's all, so I'm going to go get some rest. I'm still kind of tired from the quidditch game yesterday," Harry told everyone before getting up from his seat and walking back towards the school. "Geesh...I'm glad that's over with," he thought to himself, wiping his forehead with his sleeve.  
  
He arrived at the common room, and found Ron and Ginny waiting for him to arrive. "Ron! Ginny!" Harry yelled, running at them with a huge smile on his face. "You're back! I'm so glad you're back!" he shouted. "Geez Harry! Calm down," Ron told him, seeing how hyper Harry was, "Everybody's all right. Fred and George are back at their store, dad's back at work, and mum's back at the house. Kingsley took care of the death eaters that were after us. Dumbledore thinks that Voldie's gonna stop comin' after us, and start worrying about the bigger problems, like you and Dumbledore." Harry was satisfied with Ron's statement, so they sat down on the sofa in the common room, and began chatting about what had been happening with Ron's family. Ron left some parts out that he didn't want to tell Harry. There were some things Ron thought were better off if Harry did not find out about. "Hermione's down at Hogsmeade. So is basically the whole school. I just got done re-opening Dumbledore's Army. We're starting it up again next week," Harry caught Ron and Ginny up with what had been going on in school. He handed them the galleons Hermione had enchanted. "Thanks Harry! I'm glad you decided to reinstate the D.A.! That was so much fun last year!" Ron told him. "Yeah. I figured it would help the kids be better prepared if there was an attack here on the school," Harry agreed.  
  
They left the common room when it was time for dinner, and they met Hermione down at the Great Hall. "Ron!" she exclaimed, jumping up from her seat at the Gryffindor table and wrapping her arms around Ron. "I'm so glad you two are back! I've been so worried about you!" she told them. Harry thought he saw a tear drop from her eye, but when she turned around to walk back towards the table, her face was perfectly happy. They chowed down on the food as fast as they could, stopping only to talk about things like school work Ron had missed, and the quidditch game. Harry wound up giving Ron a play-by-play of the game, describing every dive with great detail. Ron was rather amazed that they had even won without him and Ginny. He was very happy though; he really wanted to win that quidditch championship. His eyes were upon the trophy they had won the previous two years, and he was not about to lose this year. "Well, I'm going back to the common room. I've had a long day today travelling back here," Ron told his two friends as he got up from the table. "Alright, Ron. I'll see ya when I get up to the dormitory," Harry said. "I'll see you in the morning! Be ready for classes!" Hermione called after him. Only about ten or fifteen minutes later, Harry and Hermione made their way back to the common room as well.  
  
Ginny had already left as well, and she was avidly talking with some of her fifth year friends about something. They were asking where she had been, and she had told them something about going to America to visit some relatives who were having troubles with something, but Harry had known she was lying. He knew the real reason she wasn't here. Harry didn't stay in the common room for long. He was dead tired, so he went straight up to his dormitory where Ron was already fast asleep. The following few days went by very quickly, and Ron fit right back in the group. It wasn't until Wednesday night that Harry and Hermione planned the D.A. meeting out to the very minute. They were to teach the Disarming Spell, Expelliarmus. Ron was very interested in the D.A., and said that he would definitely be going to the meetings, since he really wanted to learn how to defend himself if Voldemort or his Death Eaters came after him or his family. Ginny, too, was very interested, mostly for the same reasons as Ron, but also because she wanted to become an auror when she was out of school, and she knew she needed to learn these simple spells in order to even attempt the more difficult ones.  
  
The next few days passed in a blur, and before Harry knew it, it was time for the first D.A. meeting of the year. He and Hermione were already in the Room of Requirement, setting things up for the lesson they had planned just a few days prior. Students came in the room in bunches. The first to arrive were Harry's friends from Gryffindor, Ginny, Ron, Lavender, Parvati, Dean, Seamus, Neville, and some fifth and fourth years whom Harry did not know. They were all piled in the room within ten minutes, waiting for Harry to start the meeting. "Silence!" he yelled over the tiny conversations spread throughout the room. The whole room got silent, and Harry began to feel very powerful over these people. They were listening to him; they were doing everything he told them. "Heh...This should be called the P.A. Potter's Army," he thought to himself, a smirk glowing on his face. "Alright, where should I begin? Ah, yes. The disarming spell. I'm sure many of you have learned this spell, Expelliarmus, before in your D.A.D.A classes, but I'm not really sure a lot of people are capable of it. Here, let me demonstrate," Harry told the kids who were gathered. He turned to Hermione and shouted out, "Expelliarmus!" Her wand flew out of her hand, and Harry caught it with his right. He turned to the group and asked if they had any questions. It turned out nobody had any, so he split them up into pairs, and they practiced on each other for a little while.  
  
The meeting lasted for a little while, and ended with Harry testing each person individually. They were free to leave once they had gone through Harry's test. Everybody seemed to be able to do the spell perfectly, even Neville, which really impressed Harry. "Geesh...Hermione and I must've done a great job teaching them tonight! Either that or they had already learned it pretty well before the meeting," he thought to himself. The last person to be tested was Ron, who passed with flying colors. Harry and Hermione cleaned up the room, with a little help from Ron, before leaving to go back to the common room. "So, Ron, what did you think of the first lesson? Did you learn a lot?" Harry asked Ron. Harry wanted Ron to evaluate his performance as a teacher. "You did an excellent job, Harry. What's going on with the next meeting?" Ron inquired. "Well, I was thinking next meeting we'd do some simple jinxes like the Jelly Legs Jinx, Wingardium Leviosa, and a few others along those lines," Harry told him. "Really? Awesome!" Ron replied. "Well, I'm glad you had so much fun," Harry laughed. Harry was very happy with his performance, and knew that he had done a great thing by helping these kids learn more about defending themselves. 


	24. Chapter TwentyFour Christmas Vacation

Days and weeks flew by in a blur. After two weeks of school, which felt like only a few days, Christmas vacation had started. Harry was going to Number 12 Grimmauld Place, and he was finally going to be seeing Sirius again. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were coming with him. Ron and Ginny were going because they lived there, and Hermione was coming to keep Harry some company. Hermione really cared about Harry's well being, and wanted to make sure nothing happened to him when she wasn't there. Lupin was coming with them as well, since he didn't have a place of permanent residence yet, and Sirius would be there waiting for him along with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Fred and George, and Bill. Harry couldn't wait to see his real family again.  
  
When he arrived at Grimmauld Place, Mrs. Weasley was standing there at the door waiting for them to enter. Lupin had been with them, but Mr. Weasley escorted them as well, in case of an attack. Tonks, Moody, Kingsley, and Sirius were all in the kitchen eating some sandwiches Mrs. Weasley had prepared when they walked in the door. Harry heard Buckbeak up the stairs in Sirius' room, and he could faintly hear the ghost still living in the attack.  
  
"Harry! I'm so glad to see you again!" Mrs. Weasley said as he walked in. She engulfed him in a hug which seemed to last for an eternity, and it squeezed all of the air out of his lungs.  
  
"Fine. Ignore your son," Ron said, rolling his eyes.  
  
"Oh, don't be so silly, Ron," Mrs. Weasley replied, grabbing ahold of him as well. Harry was let free, and he wandered into the kitchen where his godfather sat, intimately engaged in a conversation about invisibility cloaks with Moody.  
  
"Hey Sirius," Harry greeted him.  
  
"Harry! Glad to see your home again?" he asked, though well aware of Harry's answer.  
  
"Of course! I'm so glad to have break from school!" exclaimed Harry, plopping himself down into a chair at the table. He saw Tonks screw up her eyes, and Harry knew what she was doing. She was going to do something funny with her face. He had always wanted to me a metamorphmagus, but he learned quickly that you could only be born as one, you couldn't learn how to be one. Moments later, her nose resmembled that of a pig's. Harry laughed; Tonks had always been able to make someone smile, no matter what the situation. He grabbed a sandwich from the plate in the middle of the table, and began eating away at it. He hadn't eaten since breakfast that morning, and it was now two o'clock in the afternoon.  
  
They scarfed down the food that was set in front of them, and when their stomachs' needs were fulfilled, they ran upstairs. Harry and Ron were sharing the one they had two summers ago, since Sirius was back in his old room. Hermione and Ginny were down the hall as usual, sharing a room they had shared for the past two summers. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were down the hall further, and Lupin was sleeping downstairs in one of the rooms. Everybody else was only there visiting. Harry unpacked all of his stuff, and put it away neatly in the room, his clothes in the closet, his trunk at the end of his bed with his books and other things. His wand would lay by his bedside at night in case of an emergency, and it would be within the depth of his robes during the day. He unpacked his Lightning Star, and placed it in a corner of his room, against the wall. Ron had already finished unpacking, so once he was done, they went back down the stairs and into the basement.  
  
The basement had been cleaned out nicely over the summer, and now there sat a few chairs, a sofa, and a small fireplace on one side. There were rows of books on one side, and many family artifacts on the other, including the picture of Phineas Nigellus, and the tapestry that held all the names of the Black family, unless Sirius' mother had blown the name off. Harry and Ron sat down on one of the sofas, and began chatting about what they wanted to do on vacation.  
  
"I heard there's this place in France, and it's like Diagon Alley, except they have way different stuff!" Ron told Harry.  
  
"If it's way different, then how is it like Diagon Alley?" Harry asked Ron whilst he laughed heartily.  
  
"Shut up!" Ron laughed as well, "But it's got a lot of stores, and my dad and mum said they sell some really neat stuff!"  
  
"Well, I guess we could see if Sirius will take us," Harry agreed.  
  
Just then, Hermione and Ginny walked down the stairs, laughing about something Harry couldn't hear. Ginny's face had turned red, and Harry knew it must've been something that was kind of embarrassing for Ginny.  
  
"Hey guys!" Hermione said, sitting down in one of the chairs. Ginny sat in the other, her face still a shade of crimson. They sat there and talked about various things for a while until Harry decided he wanted to go take a walk. He headed outside alone, and began his trek down the road. There was a park up ahead with swings, and a slide. There were a few kids up there, but Harry supposed they would be leaving soon, because it was getting rather late. As he reached the park a few minutes later, he plopped himself down on one of the swings, and let out a deep breath. It was then that he realized a dark hooded figure standing near one of the nearby trees.  
  
Harry gulped as he turned back around and began walked slowly down the hill. He didn't want to have any sort of encounter with that evil-looking hooded figure. Though as soon as he began walking, he felt a cold chill run down his spine. He felt someone breathing down upon his neck. He knew it must've been that person in the cloak. He turned around, and just as he suspected, there was a man standing there, the person who had been wearing the hood and standing by the tree.  
  
"Harry Potter...You are in great danger! There is sure peril awaiting you back at Hogwarts. You mustn't return!" the man said to him in a cold, drawling voice.  
  
"What do you mean?" Harry asked. He was very confused.  
  
"You must not go back to Hogwarts! If you do, something bad will happen. I can't say what, but just trust me, Harry Potter. You mustn't return or You-Know-Who will have something there waiting for you!" The man disappeared into thin air with a crack, leaving Harry standing in the park thinking about those words.  
  
"What could Voldemort have in store for me?" Harry asked himself as he walked back towards Headquarters. He was going to tell the others what had happened to him. He knew Dumbledore would be able to help him out.  
  
He entered the house once more, and found Dumbledore in the kitchen talking to Remus and Sirius.  
  
"Dumbledore, can I speak with you outside?" Harry asked his Headmaster.  
  
"Yes, Harry," Dumbledore replied, leading the way out into the hall outside the kitchen. "What is it?"  
  
"Well, Professor, I was out on a walk, and this man stopped me and told me that I was in great danger if I went back to Hogwarts after Christmas break," Harry told him.  
  
"Oh dear Lord..." Dumbledore said, his eyes widening and his mouth left open.  
  
"What's wrong?" Harry inquired.  
  
"Well, Harry, I had a dream last night about something bad happening to you at Hogwarts, and now this man tells you that you are in danger, I'm starting to think you might actually be in some sort of danger," Dumbledore answered. "Now, Harry, I don't want you going outside at all the rest of your time off of school. I have to be getting back to Hogwarts now. It is urgent that I speak with Minerva and Severus." Dumbledore disappeared in a snap of his fingers, and Harry left the hallway. He took a seat by Sirius and Lupin, both of whom had looks of confusion on their faces.  
  
"What happened, Harry?" Remus asked. There was a hint of sincere worry in his voice, and it was in that fatherly tone Lupin often had.  
  
"I just had a little chat with some guy up at that park. He said if I went back to Hogwarts after vacation, I would be in great danger. Personally, I don't think he's right. Nothing could happen to me at Hogwarts. Though Dumbledore does seem to think something might happen. That's why he went back to Hogwarts to talk to Snape and McGonagall," Harry told them, grabbing an apple off the kitchen table. He took a large bite out of it, and wiped his mouth.  
  
"WHAT?!" Sirius spit out some of the water he was drinking, and stared at Harry, a look of pure terror on his face.  
  
"Don't worry, Sirius. Dumbledore will make sure nothing happens. Remember, the only one he fears is Dumbledore," Lupin reminded him.  
  
"Yeah, Sirius, don't worry about me. You have enough to worry about," Harry told Sirius. "Listen, I've had a long day. Let me just go get some rest," Harry told the two reunited friends. He left the kitchen and trudged up the stairs to his room. It was just how he left it. Ron was downstairs somewhere with Hermione and Ginny, talking about only God know's what.  
  
He laid down on his bed, and closed his eyes. It was only a matter of minutes before he fell asleep.  
  
Before he knew it, Christmas had come, and there were presents galore at the end of his bed, making it look as if a mountain had sprung up from his floor. There had to have been at least twenty presents. It made Harry feel pretty glum though, because at the end of Ron's bed were a mere eight presents. He grabbed ahold of the first present he saw, and quickly ripped off the paper that was wrapped around it. Inside was a red and gold sweater that had the letter 'H' printed on it, and below it was the words 'Gryffindor Quidditch Captain.' There was a note on it that read:  
  
_Harry  
I know it isn't much, and I know you get one every year, but I know you'll love this sweater anyway. It'll help you keep warm! I'm sorry we couldn't get you anything else. We've been having a bit of trouble lately. Merry Christmas, Harry!  
Yours sincerely,  
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley_  
  
Harry unfolded the sweater, and pulled it over top of the old, stained white shirt he was wearing. It looked as if Ron was putting his on too. Under the letter 'R' was the words 'Gyffindor Prefect.' He grabbed the next present, and tore that one open as well. It was a box of Fred and George's latest invention, Extendable Eyes. They were kind of like Extendable Ears, except you saw through them instead of hearing.  
  
The next present was from Ron. It was a box of candy, including Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans, Chocolate Frogs, and a bar of Honeyduke's chocolate. He grabbed a few jelly beans, and picked through them. He found one he thought was key lime, but spit it out when he found that it was, in fact, a vomit flavored.  
  
"What kind was that?" Ron asked. He was laughing jovially whilst staring at Harry spit out the jelly bean.  
  
"Yuck! Vomit!" Harry replied, taking a swig from the glass of water beside his bed. He grabbed the next present and ripped it open, only to find that it was a book on Animagi forms, from Lupin. He skimmed through the pages and found numerous notes written on the sides of the pages. They were written by a quill. There was a note attached to the outside, and Harry read it to himself.  
  
_Harry,  
This book was the one that your father, Sirius, and Peter used when they were learning to be animagi. The notes on the side of the pages were ones that James wrote down while reading through it at night. I hope you enjoy it!  
Sincerely yours,  
Remus Lupin_  
  
Harry sat the book down on his bedside table, and put his glasses on his face before proceeding to the next present, which happened to be from Hagrid. Before he opened it, he knew what it would be. It was the same thing he got every year: rock cakes. And they were indeed rock cakes. He threw them on the floor near Hedwig's cage, and they still did not break from impact. Hedwig nibbled at one before deciding to throw it out the window onto the pavement. Harry heard it crash to the ground, but Harry could hear from the sound that it still had not broken.  
  
He shrugged and reached for another present. The next one was from Dumbledore. Harry could tell from the handwriting on the outside that said 'To Harry.' He gently unwrapped the present, and found that inside was a golden snitch, enclosed in a plastic case. There was a note attached which Harry read to himself. It said that the snitch was the one Harry caught in his very first Quidditch game as a Gryffindor player. He sat the snitch on the top of his bed, and wiped a tiny tear out of the corner of his eye. He remembered his first Quidditch game, and how happy he was. That was definitely one memory he would never forget.  
  
Sirius' present was the next that he opened. It was a book of spells used for pranking others. He skimmed through the book and saw many spells that he wanted to use on Malfoy the next time he saw him. He wanted to get revenge on Draco for all of the things he had pulled over the years, and he knew that book would definitely come in handy, especially the section that talked about spells that would make the victim belch at any desired time.  
  
He finished opening his presents only a few minutes later. He had received wand polish and a homework planner from Hermione, some polish for his broomstick from Ginny, a few quills and some parchment from Dean, and some owl snacks from Seamus. Tonks and Moody had bought him a joint present, which happened to be some Dark Detectors. It turned out that Tonks thought they worked as well. When he finished, he ran downstairs as fast as he could with Ron at his heels. Sirius and Remus were sitting at the kitchen table talking, and eating breakfast.  
  
"Harry, eat quickly. We're going to visit Dumbledore when you're finished eating," Lupin informed him. He sounded scared about something, and Harry knew whatever it was, it couldn't have been good. 


	25. Chapter TwentyFive Doubts About Safety

They arrived in Dumbledore's office later that day, and Harry took a seat right in front of Dumbledore's desk. Lupin was there, as well as Sirius and Moody. Mrs. Weasley was also looking in on the conversation from right near the door.  
  
"Now, Harry, I hear that you think something may happen here at Hogwarts. I need you to tell me everything you know that has led to your idea," Dumbledore instructed him.  
  
"Well, Professor Dumbledore, it all started back when I was on the train on my way to Hogwarts. Draco told me I would be seeing the Dark Lord sooner than I thought. This made me think that maybe Draco had joined the Death Eaters, and maybe he had an idea of Voldemort's plans to murder me. Then, just a few weeks ago, Draco's sister warned me. She told me that I should watch out for Malfoy. She said he was planning something. Perhaps this was what Draco had meant in the beginning of the year, maybe Draco was helping to plan Voldemort's next move. Anyway, just a few days ago, I ran into a man at the park up the street from Grimmauld Place. He was wearing a black hooded cloak, and he warned me that something might happen to me when I went back to Hogwarts. He kind of reminded me of Antonin Dolohav. I don't know if it's all true, but I think I have a reasonable amount of evidence to be worried about something happening," Harry told Dumbledore.  
  
"Aha…Interesting…Very interesting…" Dumbledore reminded Harry a bit of Mr. Ollivander. "Harry, do you feel that it may be necessary to find a way of guarding the entrances to Hogwarts and Hogsmeade in order to protect you?"  
  
"Well, I guess a little extra precaution couldn't hurt," Harry replied. In reality, Harry thought the idea of extra protection was the best thing the Order could do. He really didn't feel safe at all. Even though Dumbledore would be there, he still felt that Voldemort and his followers posed a threat.  
  
"Well then, Harry, the Order will have a meeting tonight at headquarters, and we'll be sure to find a way to guard Hogwarts. We wouldn't want anything happening to our secret weapon, now, would we?" Dumbledore grinned at Harry. "Now, go have some fun with your friends." He winked and pointed towards the door of his office.  
  
"I guess I'll see you later tonight then, Professor!" exclaimed Harry as he got out of his seat. He walked over to the door and opened it, following Lupin, who was leading the way back home.  
  
Moments later, Harry was sitting in his bedroom, flipping through a book about wandless magic. It had become quite a hobby of his to practice magic without the use of a wand. He wanted to improve his skill, so in case he came across Voldemort, he would have a better shot at vanquishing him. He got out of his bed, and stood there with his eyes closed. He began thinking about a quill, and its form.  
  
"Creo Insumo!" he shouted rather loudly as he made a swishing motion with his right hand. When he opened his eyes, there was a quill made from the tail feather of a phoenix sitting there in his hand. He had done it. Now, he could perform one of the most difficult spells he had learned, without the use of a wand.  
  
He closed his eyes once more, and tried the spell again. "Creo Insumo!" In his hand appeared a glass swan. It was very detailed, down to the very last feather. He grinned broadly, and took the swan with him out of the bedroom. He crept slowly and quietly down the hallway. He was going to place it next to Ginny's bed as a present, and he didn't want to be seen. He snuck up to the door and was about to open it when he heard voices from inside. They belonged to Hermione and Ginny, and they were talking about him.  
  
"Well, I think he's adorable!" he heard Ginny squeal in response to Hermione's previous statement, which he could not hear. He was very intrigued by this statement, so he placed his ear against the door in hopes of hearing more of this interesting conversation.  
  
"I can tell from the way he acts around you that he totally wants to go out with you. Have you seen the way Harry's always trying to impress you? You just have to let him know that you're interested as well!" Hermione told her best friend. "I'm going to go get something to drink." Harry backed away from the door and hid in the room next door until the two girls had walked down the stairs. It was safe to put the swan in the room, so he did so before scurrying off to the kitchen to grab a sandwich for lunch.  
  
Was it true that Ginny had a crush on him? "That would be great if she really did like me! Hmmm…maybe I should ask her out on a date to Hogsmeade when we get back to school. Nah…we've done that already. There has to be somewhere I can take her…" he thought as he grabbed a ham and cheese sandwich off of the plate sitting in the middle of the long kitchen table.  
  
Hermione and Ginny were sitting at one end of the table, nibbling away at their sandwiches, but Harry was more interested in the conversation at the other end, where Remus and Sirius were sitting. They were talking about his parents.  
  
"Hey Harry! We were just talking about Lily and James!" Remus said, inviting him to take a seat right next to him. "We were just saying how proud they would be of you if they were still alive." Harry's cheeks turned a hint of red, and he looked away for a few moments. He didn't want Sirius to see him blush.  
  
"Yeah, and we were saying how you've been doing an excellent job of protecting yourself, and getting ready. We saw you up there practicing some wandless magic. That was very impressive, Harry! Most teenagers your age can't even perform that spell with their wands!" Sirius chimed in the conversation.  
  
"And that's a very clever idea, I must say, since your wands will not fight each other!" Remus commended him. He gave Harry a clap on the back before standing up. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we have some business to attend to." And with that, the two gentlemen disappeared with a crack.  
  
Harry was left sitting there with a sandwich half-stuffed in his mouth. Harry wondered what had been the rush, and desperately wanted to know where his two guardians had gone. He supposed they had just gone to do a mission for the Order, and he hoped it wasn't anything too dangerous; he didn't want to lose Sirius, again, or Remus. Hermione and Ginny were giggling madly at the other end of the table, though Harry did not understand what was so funny as they stared in his direction in amusement. "What's so funny?" he asked.  
  
"Well, it's just that you have crumbs all in your peach-fuzz mustache!" Ginny answered him in between fits of laughter.  
  
He wiped above his mouth to get rid of the crumbs, and immediately said, whilst pointing his wand at his face, "Afeitar Cara!" In only a matter of moments, his face was completely clean-shaven. He rubbed his face to feel if the spell had worked, and a look of extreme satisfaction appeared on his face when he found that it had worked as planned. The two girls at the other end of the table stopped laughing; their source of amusement had disappeared. "I'm going to go fly around outside for a bit. I'll see you guys later."  
  
He left the kitchen, and went back to his room so he could grab his Lightning Star. He took it from its spot leaning against the wall, and took the stairs two at a time on his way back down. On his way to the door, Mrs. Weasley stopped him.  
  
"Just where do you think you're going?" she asked him, with a serious look on her face. Harry could tell she didn't want him to leave her sight.  
  
"I'm just going out back to fly around. You know Mr. Weasley put up that disillusioning charm last summer," Harry told her, heading once again towards the door.  
  
"Well, alright. But Ronnie's coming with you!" Mrs. Weasley said. She yelled for Ron, and moments later, Ron was running up the steps from the basement.  
  
"What, mom? I was in the middle of something!" Ron shouted. Harry knew he was furious that his mom had interrupted whatever he was doing down in the basement.  
  
"Harry wants to go fly around outside, and I told him he wasn't allowed to go if you didn't go outside with him. So go upstairs and get your Nimbus and fly around with him," Mrs. Weasley answered him, looking at him in a forceful manner. She wasn't going to back down from what she was saying. Ron stormed up the steps and, moments later, he emerged from his room carrying his broomstick.  
  
"Ready Harry?" he asked, and Harry nodded as he swung the back door open.  
  
They ran outside as fast as they could with one of the quaffles Ron had retrieved from Harry's Quidditch set. They mounted their brooms and took off in just a matter of seconds after they had ran out the door. It had been so long since they had flown a broomstick, and they couldn't wait to fly again, especially Ron, who wasn't at Hogwarts for the last game.  
  
They passed the quaffle around for a bit, just warming up, before Ron went and got the snitch for Harry. Harry released when he was ready, and kept an eye open for it as he flew high around the back yard. He dove towards the ground, like he was doing a Wronski Feint, and pulled up at the last moment so he didn't slam into the ground. Ron was pretending to lean off his broom and make a magnificent save.  
  
Hermione came outside only ten minutes later with her broom, as did Ginny. Both girls were taking turns with throwing the quaffle, trying to get it past Ron, neither of them did. Ron kept bragging about how they hadn't made a goal yet, but the girls eventually put a few past him.  
  
Harry was still flying around trying to find the snitch, which he hadn't seen since they had let it go, so he joined in the shooting. He made a few goals, more than what he had expected. He had never been very good at throwing the quaffle; that's why he wasn't playing as Chaser. But as he was retrieving the quaffle, he saw the snitch soaring straight for the neighbor's fence. He quickly darted for it, and grabbed it before it put a magnificent hole in the brand-new tall white fence.  
  
There were only a few days left before he had to go back to Hogwarts, and they went by in a blur. Harry couldn't believe his vacation was ending; it seemed as if it had only just begun, but he had to pack up his stuff because it wasn't long before he would be back at Hogwarts. When the day arrived to go back to school, Harry was actually pretty excited. He hadn't seen some of his other friends in a while, like Neville, and he knew he was perfectly safe at Hogwarts, even with all of the threats and things he had been receiving. He knew nothing bad could happen as long as Dumbledore was there at Hogwarts; after all, Dumbledore was the only man Voldemort ever feared. 


	26. Chapter TwentySix Voldemort's Secret

As he entered the school again, he saw Professor McGonagall standing there, talking with Filch about something. Obviously, someone had already tried pulling a prank, just mere minutes after returning to Hogwarts. Harry chuckled to himself as he heaved his trunk, along with Hedwig's cage, first to the Owlery to drop off Hedwig. Once he had done that, he went off to his dormitory, but he realized he didn't know the password.  
  
"It's okay, Harry. I know it," Ron told him, who was walking beside him the whole time. "Snivellus," Ron spoke, and the Fat Lady snickered before swinging open. "Like it, Harry? I thought of it myself," Ron said, as he began laughing softly. Harry just sniggered to himself before proceeding up the stairs to his dormitory. He slid his trunk in at the end of his bed, and jumped onto the bed, laying his head back on his pillows. For some reason, he was feeling very tired.  
  
"What are you doing, Harry? C'mon! You're gonna miss the feast!" he heard a voice shout to him from near the door. Harry looked up to see Neville poking his head through the door. Harry grunted as he slid out of bed and grabbed his glasses from his bedside table. He was nearly asleep, but Neville just had to barge in and wake him up. He put his glasses on, and adjusted them so they weren't so crooked before walked slowly towards the door where Neville was waiting.  
  
"Harry! I've been looking all over for you! Where were you?" Hermione yelled as he emerged from the dormitory. Harry rolled his eyes as he walked closer to her.  
  
"I was trying to sleep..." he muttered, in a grumpy sort of tone, much like that of an old man disturbed from his resting spot. He led the way out of the common room, followed by Hermione and Neville. When he thought about it, he really didn't know where Ron disappeared to after letting him into the common room. He shrugged off the question, and continued to walk down the numerous staircases in route to the Great Hall.  
  
They entered the hall to see that it was nearly full, and Ron stood up to show them where to sit. Dumbledore was at the front at the staff table, and Harry saw him wink as he walked in. Harry grinned at Dumbledore before walking over to one of the free seats Ron had saved for them. The rest of the Quidditch team was sitting there as well, and Ron was discussing something with them about the Slytherin game.  
  
"Please, please, I'd like to have your attention. This is a very serious announcement, and I need you all to listen up," Dumbledore spoke as Professor McGonagall tapped her glass with her spoon. At once, the hall became silent and all eyes were on the Headmaster, except for a few Slytherins who were still discussing snakes. "Blast-ended Skrewts have been placed at the doors into the castle as a security measure. Parents have been informed, and those parents who think there is a huge risk may take their students out, though I have not received any complaints as of yet. There will be teachers escorting students out to the Care of Magical Creatures class, and there will also be several Ministry officials lurking around the grounds on guard duty. Please, I ask you not to make a big deal of this. Nothing is certain to happen; this is just a precautionary measure. Now, without any further adieu, I'd like to welcome you all back to Hogwarts and may you enjoy this first meal back."  
  
At these words, plates among plates of food appeared in front of them; the most delicious food they had ever tasted. Harry could tell that Ron was in heaven. It wasn't that Mrs. Weasley's food wasn't good, because she could make dirt taste good, but it was the fact that there was so much of it in front of them. You could eat for weeks off of the amount of food. As soon as the food had appeared, Ron had shoveled mounds of potatoes onto his plate, and had a stack of slices of beef next to it, all drenched with thick brown gravy. On the side, he had placed three rolls, all smothered with butter.  
  
"Geez, Ron, you act like you've never seen food before," Harry laughed at his friend. Harry's plate was nowhere near as full; he just had a little bit of each thing. Ron tried to sputter out something in retaliation, but the food in his mouth made it impossible to decipher what he was trying to say. Amazingly enough, Ron was the first person done at their table, and was done way before anyone else. After about fifteen minutes of waiting for Ron, the plates that had once held roast beef and potatoes had now disappeared and were replaced with bowls of a variety of ice cream flavors. Ron had a mix of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry, whereas Hermione only took a few spoonfuls of the vanilla.  
  
They were permitted to leave the Great Hall after they had finished their dessert, and Ron, who was barely able to walk after eating so much, led the way back to the common room. He threw himself down on the sofa in front of the fire before emitting an enormous belch.  
  
"Wow, Ron. That was real attractive," Hermione told him whilst she rolled her eyes. They sat there chatting about the reason why these security measures had taken place, for they were some of the only kids who knew why. There was a threat that Voldemort would try to attack the school, and the thought of it made it very difficult for Harry to fall asleep that night.  
  
He was having another one of those strange dreams, one that someone had implanted in his brain, though he did not know it at first. He was walking down a pathway, through the middle of a forest. The path was very worn, but there were a few spots where rocks jutted up from the ground, and Harry had to watch where he was going, in order that he did not trip over them.  
  
In front of him stood a very pale fellow, with a black cloak over himself. Harry recognized the man; it was Tom Riddle, whom he had defeated but four years ago in the Chamber of Secrets. He was back, and he was in Harry's mind.  
  
"Well, well, Harry, what a surprise to see you here," Tom cackled. He let out a cold, evil laugh that sent chills down Harry's spine.  
  
"Well, is it really a surprise? I mean, it is my dream," Harry replied. He snorted at his sarcasm. It was one of the things he had always done, to allow himself more time to come up with a plan.  
  
"Do you think you're funny, Potter? Because I don't think this is a time where you want to be funny. There will be severe consequences. Now, so we don't waste any time, follow me," Tom instructed him. He began walking down the path, and into a clearing, where a unicorn lay slain. Blood was gently drifting out of its torso.  
  
"You sick bastard," Harry thought to himself in disgust. A severely smug look appeared on his face, and he hung his head down in pity for the unicorn. What had it done to deserve this? Absolutely nothing. It was a poor, innocent creature, and this monster of a man had killed it, for what? For it's own good fortune, so it could live longer.  
  
"Why do you need to use this unicorn for its blood? I thought you were back to good health!" Harry said to Riddle, whose eyes automatically went into a trance. His pupils rolled to the back of his head. Harry was using Legilimency to get into the mind of Tom Riddle. He had to answer Harry's question.  
  
"I will never be fully recovered. I need unicorn blood for survival. Once a month I black out, and the only way I can stop it is to drink the blood from a unicorn," he answered. After this, his eyes returned to their normal state, and a very angry look appeared on Tom Riddle's face.  
  
"How'd you do that? Why did I answer?" he asked, more to himself than to Harry. A dazed and confused look now replaced his look of angriness. He walked closer to Harry, and put his hands on Harry's face. Yet again, Riddle felt a burning sensation, and he released Harry from his grip.  
  
"Get away from me, you monster! Get away!" Harry shouted at the top of his lungs. He tried as hard as he could to push Tom Riddle out of his mind, something he had learned during Occlumency. Tom Riddle's image was fading into a light gray shadow, and then it had disappeared for good.  
  
"Harry! What happened? You were saying all these things in your sleep!" Ron said, shaking him awake. "Is something wrong, mate?" Ron asked again. Neville, too, was standing over him, along with Dean and Seamus.  
  
"Get...Dumbledore...Tell him it's...urgent..." 


End file.
